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tibvaxy  of  €he  Cheolo^ical  ^tmimvy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of  the 
Rev.   John  B.  V/iedinger 


BV4ai  1 

.Alb 


ABREAST  OF  TH 


A  COURSE  OF 

Sernione  on  Social  Subjects 


ORGANIZED   BY   THE  LONDON  BRANCH  OF   THE   CHRISTIAN 

SOCIAL    UNION,   AND   PREACHED  IN   THE    CHURCH  OF 

ST.    EDMUND^    KING  AND  MARTYR,   LOMBARD 

STREET,   DURING  LENT,   l8g4. 


OEith  a  ^ufaa 


THE     BISHOP     OF     DURHAM. 


NEW    YORK: 
JAMES    POTT   &    CO.,    114  FIFTH    AVENUE. 

1894. 


NOTE 


'nr^HESE  Sermons  were  preached,  by  ki7id permission  of  the 
I  Rector,  Canon  Benham,  in  the  Chitrch  of  St.  Edmimd, 
King  and  Martyr,  Lombard  Street,  E.C.,  during  Lent,  1894. 
The  series  was  organised  by  the  London  Branch  of  the  Christian 
Social  Union.  The  idea  of  the  promoters  was  to  bring  vividly 
before  the  minds  of  business  nten  and  others  that  the  pressing 
Social  Problems  of  the  day  would  be  the  fittest  object  of  their 
thoughts,  prayers,  heart-searchings,  and  aspirations  during  the 
solemn  season  of  Lent;  and  that,  as  Christians,  they  were  bound 
to  seek  for  direction  in  their  sohUion  from  their  Lord  and 
Master  Jesus  Christ. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  desire  to  know,  the  objects 
of  the  Christian  Social  Union  are  printed  elseiuhere. 

H  S.  HOLLAND, 

Chairman  of  Committee. 


PREFACE. 


THE  course  of  sermons  contained  in  this 
volume  was  organized  by  the  London 
branch  of  the  Christian  Social  Union, 
but  each  preacher  was  left  perfectly  free  to  speak 
according  to  his  mind,  and  is  alone  responsible  for 
his  own  sermon. 

I  have  not  had  the  advantage  of  hearing  or 
reading  any  of  the  sermons,  but  the  striking  variety 
of  subjects  and  writers  illustrates  the  wide  field 
which  the  Union  occupies  and  the  liberty  which 
is  allowed  to  the  members  —  though  I  beheve  that 
the  writers  are  not  all  members  of  the  Union  — 
in  regard  to  their  economic  and  political  and  theo- 
logical opinions.  At  the  same  time,  I  cannot  doubt 
that  whatever  differences  may  exist  in  the  methods 
and  the  conclusions  of  the  several  contributors,  all 
ahke  recognise  the  same  motive  and  the  same  prin- 
ciple and  the  same  power  of  Christian  action  ; 
the  motive  and  the  principle  and  the  power 
which  are  to  be  found  in  the  application  of  the 
fact  of  the  Incarnation  to  the  manifold  problems 
of  life  in  dependence  on  the  Holy  Spirit  sent  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The   popular   misconception    of    the    scope    and 


viii  PREFACE 

strength  of  Christianity,  which  must  be  due,  in 
part  at  least,  to  the  fault  of  believers,  lays  upon 
every  Christian  the  duty  of  making  clear  to  himself 
and  to  others  what  he  holds  the  faith  to  be  as  a 
social  no  less  than  an  individual  Gospel,  the  pro- 
clamation not  simply  of  the  teaching  of  Christ,  but 
of  Christ  Himself,  born,  crucified,  risen,  ascended, 
the  Saviour  of  the  world.  We  are  bound  not  only 
,  to  affirm,  but  to  show  practically  by  patient  effort 
I  that  the  faith  is  co-extensive  with  the  interests  of 
Mife;  that  it  receives  an  intellectual  expression  in 
order  that  it  may  be  applied  effectively  to  conduct 
in  the  widest  sense ;  that  behef  in  the  Incarnation 
— fulfilled  in  the  Passion,  the  Resurrection,  the 
Ascension,  the  mission  of  the  Paraclete — supplies 
such  an  interpretation  of  the  problems  of  creation 
as  we  are  capable  of  receiving,  and  the  help 
which  we  require,  that  we  may  be  enabled  to  deal 
with  them. 

To  this  end  the  Christian  Social  Union  proposes 
to  its  members  three  objects  : 

*  I.  To  claim  for  the  Christian  law  the  ultimate 
authority  to  rule  social  practice. 

*  2.  To  study  in  common  how  to  apply  the  moral 
truths  and  principles  of  Christianity  to  the  social 
and  economic  difficulties  of  the  present  time. 

*  3.  To  present  Christ  in  practical  life  as  the 
living  Master  and  King,  the  enemy  of  wrong  and 
selfishness,  the  power  of  righteousness  and  love.' 

These  objects  define  broadly  the  foundation,  the 
preparation,  and  the  character  of  the  active  Christian 
life. 


PREFACE 


I.  The  conceptions  which  we  form  of  God  and 
man  necessarily  determine  all  we  do.    For  Christians 
these  two   conceptions   are  indissolubly  combined  ; 
and  all  mankind,  all  the  world,  are  transformed  for 
them  under  the  influence  of  the  fact  that  the  Word 
became   flesh.      For    Christians    the    ideas    of    the 
Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood    of  men 
are  not  merely  magnificent  aspirations,  but  direct^ 
interpretations    of    that    central    truth    of    history. 
We    have,    indeed,    lost    in    part    through    an    un- 
happy mistranslation   the  characteristic  thought  of 
the  love  of  the  brethren    {<f)L\ahe\(t)ia) ,  the   feeling 
of  Christian  for  Christian  founded  on  the  confession 
of  one  Faith  ;  but  the  thought  is  prominent  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  it  is  through  the  love  of  the 
brethren    and    through    this    alone    that     we    can 
rise    with    sure    conviction    to    the    love    of    men 
as  men.     Our  relation  to  God  dominates  and  deter- 
mines all  other  relations.     The  command  to  render 
to  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's  is  not  a  con- 
trast to  the  command  to  render  to  God  the  things 
that  are  God's  :  the  special  duty  is  an  embodiment 
of  the  universal  duty.     There  can  be  no  division  in 
life :    aU  life  is   essentially   religious    or   irreligious. 
We  accept  hterally  as  our  rule  of  conduct,  however 
imperfectly   we    may  be    able   to   fulfil  it,   the    two 
commands  :     Whether  ye  eat  or  drink,  or    whatsoever 
ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God ;  and   Whatsoever  ye 
do,  in  word  or  in  deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  giving  thanks  to  God  the  Father   through  Him. 
We  are  our  message ;  and  in  things  great  and  small 
we  are  called  upon  to  seek  to  make  God  known,  that 


X  PREFACE 

is,  to  seek  '  His  glory,'  and  this  can  only  be  by 
realizing  our  own  fellowship  in  His  Son,  as  He  has 
been  revealed  to  us.  All  the  conditions  of  labour 
and  trade  and  social  intercourse,  of  civil  and  national 
life,  can  be  made  conformable  to  a  divine  standard, 
and  it  is  our  duty  to  strive  towards  this  issue. 

2.  The  task  is  not  easy,  and  can  never  be  finally 
accomplished.  The  foundation  fact  of  the  Incarna- 
tion expresses  perfectly,  in  terms  of  human  life,  our 
goal,  our  way,  our  strength ;  but  it  is  also  inex- 
haustible. No  age  and  no  race  can  master  all  its 
lessons.  It  offers  something  new  for  us  to  discover 
and  to  do,  answering  to  the  new  conditions  of  the 
time.  The  Holy  Spirit  sent  in  Christ's  name — sent, 
that  is,  to  make  His  nature  and  His  will  better 
known — still  takes  of  that  which  is  His  and  declares 
it  to  us.  We  are  set  face  to  face  with  a  living  and 
speaking  God.  We  are  bound,  therefore,  to  take 
account  of  every  aspect  and  grouping  of  facts  in 
the  light  of  the  Faith  ;  and  '  to  study  in  common,' 
bringing  together  our  differences  of  temperament 
and  experience  and  knowledge,  how  to  apply  the  Faith 
to  the  difficulties  of  our  own  time.  This  *  studyhig 
in  common '  is  the  central  characteristic  of  the 
Union,  and  includes  a  promise  of  spiritual  help  to 
calm,  systematic,  scientific  thought.  The  noble 
Jewish  saying,  that  when  two  friends  engage  to- 
gether in  reading  the  Law,  the  Shekinah  is  added 
as  a  third,  has  for  us  a  present  application  ;  and  we 
may  humbly  trust  that  when  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together  in  Christ's  name  {eU  to  ovo/jlo) 
to  realize  more  perfectly  in  life  what  He  is.  He  will 


PREFACE 


be  in  the  midst  of  them.  With  what  reverence* 
therefore,  with  what  patience,  with  what  courage, 
with  what  hope,  shall  we  labour  together,  if  we 
realize  that  most  holy  Presence,  before  which  the 
storms  of  earthly  passion  are  stilled,  accepting  the 
discipline  of  delay,  if  delay  be  necessary,  in  order  | 
that  all  the  truth  may  be  gained.  Every  conclu- 
sion and  every  design  which  we  form  will  be  shaped 
in  the  spirit  which  England  has  retained  from  the 
movements  of  the  sixteenth  century,  with  a  solemn 
sense  of  personal  responsibility,  with  a  passion  for 
truth,  with  a  whole-hearted  devotion  to  righteous- 
ness. 

3.  At  the  same  time  all  study  will  be  directed  to 
service.  We  believe  in  the  ascended  and  living 
Christ.  It  is  through  us  He  works.  The  Vine 
bears  fruit  through  the  branches.  In  the  bold 
language  of  early  mystics.  He  needs  us  even  as  we 
need  Him.  In  His  name  we  hasten  His  kingdom. 
Yet  even  here  we  must  remember  that  the  weapons 
of  our  warfare  are  spiritual ;  and  on  great  festivals, 
when  we  meditate  on  the  conditions  of  our  work,* 
we  gladly  recall  that  the  earliest  offerings  which 
the  Lord  received  were  earthly  treasures,  brought 
by  Gentile  hands,  that  there  is  an  eternal  element 
in  things  transitory,  that  there  exists  already  by 
Divine  appointment  a  fellowship  between  the  seen 
and  the  unseen  orders. 

We   look   beyond    all    present   attainments,    but, 

'  Members  are  expected  to  pray  for  the  well-being  of  the  Union  at 
Holy  Communion,  more  particularly  on  or  about  the  following  days  : 
The  Feast  of  the  Epiphany,  the  Feast  of  the  Ascension,  the  Feast  of 
St.  Michael  and  all  Ax\gQh:— Objects  of  the  Umo?i. 


xii  PREFACE 

none  the  less,  our  faith  constrains  us  to  do  what- 
ever Hes  within  our  power  to  overcome  selfishness 
and  wrong.  It  is  for  Christians  to  form  an  intel- 
ligent, vigorous,  and  just  public  opinion.  Legisla- 
tion must  be  prepared  for  before  it  can  be  wisely 
carried.  Legislation  carried  by  force  is  not  only 
ineffective,  but  demoralizing.  The  best  cause,  no 
doubt,  cannot  be  gained  without  suffering.  We  must 
through  many  trihdations  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God.  But  considerateness  will  avert  many  losses. 
The  right  is  rarely  all  on  one  side.  We  shall,  there- 
fore, seek  to  understand,  and,  if  possible,  to  know 
personally  those  from  whom  we  differ  ;  and  in  con- 
flicts our  prayers  will  be  such  as  our  adversaries, 
if  honest  and  upright,  might  join  in  using.  No  fear 
of  personal  consequences  will  induce  us  to  dissemble 
our  convictions ;  and  no  hope  of  a  premature 
advantage  will  induce  us  to  dishonour  them.  '  It 
is  not,'  Lord  Lawrence  said,  in  words  which  have 
a  wide  application,  *  the  doing  Christian  things 
which  creates  irritation,  but  the  doing  Christian 
things  in  an  unchristian  way.' 

The  bond  which  holds  the  Union  together  is  not 
the  acceptance  of  a  definite  policy,  but  the  accept- 
ance of  definite  obligations  resting  on  the  one  Faith. 
The  Union  has  no  programme  which  the  members 
are  required  to  maintain ;  it  has  principles  which 
they  are  required  to  embody  according  to  their 
knowledge  and  experience  with  sober  and  self- 
denying  devotion,  equally  far  from  faithlessness 
and  from  self-assertion. 

In  this  light  the  limitation  of  the  Union  to  Church- 


PREFACE  xiii 

men  is  a  pledge  of  breadth  not  less  than  of  definite- 
ness  of  faith  ;  and  it  would  be  fatal  to  its  work  if 
it  were  to  become  identified  with  any  ecclesiastical 
or  political  party.  The  better  order  at  which  we 
aim  must  correspond  with  the  amplitude  of  our 
inheritance;  the  future  which  we  strive  to  shape 
must  be  the  crown  of  the  past.  Some  among  us 
may  naturally  be  stirred  to  impetuous  action  by 
the  sight  of  evils  which  come  upon  them  with  sad 
surprises.  During  the  fifty  years  through  which  I 
have  watched  the  advance  of  national,  social  and 
industrial  reforms,  I  have  gained  the  patience  of 
courageous  hope,  which  still  grows  stronger  in  the 
actual  stress  of  conflict.  Let  the  ideal  be  duly 
fashioned  and  loyally  held  and  pursued,  and  little 
by  little  it  will  be  surely  established. 

B.  F.  DUNELM. 

Lollards'  Tower,  Lambeth, 
Alarch  i<^th,  1894. 


CONTENTS. 


NATIONAL  PKNITENCE.     Rev.  Canon  Henry  Scott 

HoivIvAND         .......  I 

SOCIAL    WARNINGS    FROM    HISTORY.      The  Very 

Rev.  G.  W.  KiTCHiN,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Winchester  .       12 

WASTKD    LIVES.     Rev.  A.    F.  W.    Ingram  (Head  of 

Oxford  House,  Bethnal  Green)      .  .  .  .22 

AM   I   MY  BROTHER'S   KEEPER?    Ven.  Archdeacon 

Farrar,  D.D.  .  .  .  .  .  .28 

ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY.     Part  I.     Rev.  R.  L.  Otti^ey 

(Principal  of  Pusey  House,  Oxford)  .  .  -38 

ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY.     Part  II.  .  .  .      49 

COMMERCIAL  MORALITY.     Part  I.     Rev.  J.  Carter 

(Gen.  Sec.  C.S.U.) 59 

COMMERCIAL  MORALITY.     Part  II.      .  .  .      65 

WAGES.    Rev.  Professor  Cunningham       .  .  -73 

THE  UNEMPLOYED.     Rev.  Canon  Barnett  (Warden 

ofToynbeeHall)       ......      84 

WOMEN'S  WORK.   Rev.  E.  HoSkyns  (Rector  of  Stepney)      91 

SPECULATION.     Rev.  W11.FRID  Richmond  (Author  of 

'  Economic  Morals  ')......     100 


xvi  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS.     Rev.  R.  R.  D01.1.ING  (Head 

of  Winchester  College  Mission,  Portsmouth)      .  .110 

BETTING  AND  GAMBLING.     Rev.  J.  S.  Barrass  .     120 

MARRIAGE      LAW.        Rev.      Canon     Henry     Scott 

Hoi,i,AND       .......     126 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION.    Rev.  G.  W.  GenT  (Principal 

of  St.  Mark's  Training  College,  Chelsea)  .  .     138 

VAIN  OBLATIONS.      Rev.   T.   C.   Fry   (Headmaster  of 

Berkhamsted  School)  .  .  .  .  -147 

RECREATION.  Hon.  and  Rev.  E.  LYTT1.ET0N  (Head- 
master of  Haileybiiry)         .  .  .  .  .155 

THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST  AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC 
CREED.  Part  I.  Town  Probi^ems.  Very  Rev. 
C.  W.  Stubbs,  Dean  of  Ely,  Author  of  '  Christ  and 
Democracy '  .  •  .  •  •  •  •     164 

THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST  AND  HIS   DEMOCRATIC 

CREED.    Part  II.  Vii,i.age  Probi^ems         .  .    178 

COMMON  SENSE   IN   RELIGION.     Ven.  Archdeacon 

W11.SON         . 188 

SOCIAL    HOPE.      Rev.    Prebendary  EyTon   (Rector  of 

Holy  Trinity,  Upper  Chelsea)        .  .  .  .192 

THE     SOCIAL     OUTLOOK.       Rev.    Professor    H.     C. 

SiiuTTi^EWORTH  (Rector  of  St.  Nicholas  Cole- Abbey) .     199 


LOMBARD   STREET  IN  LENT 


NATIONAL  PENITENCE. 

BY 

CANON   HENRY   SCOTT   HOLLAND. 

'  Cursed  is  he  that  removeth  his 
neighboza' s  landmark.  Cursed  is  he 
that  perverteth  the  judgment  of  the 
stratiger,  the  fatherless,  and  the 
widow,  etc.  Cursed  are  the  un- 
merciful.   Amen.^ — Deut.  xxvii.  17. 

CHRISTIANITY  is  often  charged  with  depreciat- 
ing the  virtues  of  the  good  citizen.  It  has 
thrown,  we  are  told,  all  its  emphasis  on  holi- 
ness rather  than  on  justice,  on  purity  rather 
than  on  truth.  It  has  its  home  in  the  inner  mysteries  of 
the  spiritual  life,  in  the  unseen  struggles  and  aspirations  of 
the  soul ;  to  it  the  outer  circumstances  of  the  visible  and 
social  environment  are  matters  more  or  less  indifferent. 
And  more  especially  will  this  inward  tendency,  we  might  say, 
declare  itself  at  a  season  of  penitence  such  as  Lent,  when 
the  spirit  of  the  man  is  sent  back  upon  itself,  to  explore ; 
the  inner  recesses  of  his  will,  and  to  sift  and  analyze  f 
his  deep-seated  motives,  that  he  may  examine  himself  and 
confess  his  sin,   and  enter    into   the  shadow  of  self-humi-  \ 

I 


2  NATIONAL  PENITENCE 

liation.  That  is  what  is  meant  by  the  religious  season  of 
Lent ;  that  is  what  the  main  mass  of  devout  believers  in- 
tend by  their  Lenten  exercises ;  and  the  earnest  social 
reformer,  even  if  he  can  allow  all  this  penitential  trouble  to 
be  spiritually  valuable,  cannot  but  ask  whether  it  is 
calculated  to  create  or  to  invigorate  the  strongest  type  of  the 
good  citizen  at  his  work  in  the  big  world.  Can  the  two 
interests  hang  together  ?  Do  the  two  cities  correspond — 
the  city  of  man  on  earth  that  now  is,  and  the  City  of  God, 
the  Bride  of  the  Lamb  ? 

Anyhow,  our  Prayer-Book  has  a  very  clear  idea  that  they 
do.  It  has,  indeed,  a  great  deal  to  say  in  Lent  about  sin, 
and  penitence,  and  confession,  and  pardon,  and  all  the 
mysteries  of  the  soul  at  war  with  itself.  It  would  dedicate 
its  Lent  largely  to  those  invisible  struggles  in  which  a  spirit 
wrestles  all  night  in  some  black  loneliness  of  agony,  face  to 
face  with  the  nameless  God  whom  it  will  not  let  go  until  He 
bless.  Nevertheless,  it  deems  it  part  and  parcel  of  this  same 
spiritual  process  to  start  off  at  the  opening  of  Lent  with  the 
demands  recorded  in  my  text.  Plain  and  straight  enough, 
these  rough,  homely  words.  No  unearthliness  about  them  ! 
We  are  not  wafted  off  into  any  mystical  world,  strange  and 
vague  and  intangible  and  remote,  hovering,  faint  and  fair, 
before  our  secret  imaginings.  No,  indeed  !  very  near  it 
lies,  this  world  of  which  they  speak.  Very  obvious  and 
very  matter-of-fact  these  obligations  that  they  press  home. 
It  is  not  a  question  that  concerns  some  future  condition  of 
the  soul  in  the  sacred  bliss  of  heaven ;  but  what  is  its  state 
to-day?  What  is  it  doing  at  this  hour?  What  will  it  be 
about  to-morrow  ?  The  entire  concern  is  with  positive,  out- 
ward, undeniable  facts,  not  with  inward  temper,  or  moods, 
or  emotions.  It  is  our  acts  that  are  arraigned.  And  these 
acts  are  all  of  them  social ;  they  are  acts  done  by  us  to  or 
towards  our  neighbour  ;  they  are  the  acts  of  citizens  living 
under  the  close  and  incessant  responsibilities  of  an  organized 
society. 


NATIONAL  PENITENCE  3 

With  these  your  Lent  ought  to  begin.  So  the  Prayer- 
Book  says.  Here  is  the  door  through  which  to  pass  in 
within  the  recesses  of  the  Divine  humiliation.  If  you  want 
to  draw  nearer  this  year  to  the  blood-sweat  of  Gethsemane, 
and  to  the  bitter  cross  of  Calvary,  and  at  last  to  the  holy 
sanctuary  of  your  Easter  feast,  then  there  is  one  inevitable 
inquiry  which  blocks  the  way.  It  is  perfectly  simple,  and 
no  one  can  mistake  it.  It  is  this  :  What  sort  of  citizen  are 
you  ?  What  kind  of  neighbour  have  you  been  ?  Do  you 
rob  ?  Do  you  lie  ?  Do  you  remove  your  neighbour's  land- 
mark ?  Have  you  perverted  the  judgment  of  the  widow,  or 
the  fatherless,  or  the  stranger  ?  Have  you  smitten  your 
neighbour  secretly?  Have  you  taken  reward  against  the 
innocent  ?  Have  you  been  unmerciful  to  the  helpless  ? 
Have  you  extorted  your  gains  from  the  weak  and  ignorant  ? 
Have  you  used  craft  or  force  to  win  your  own  ends  ?  Have 
you  ground  down  the  poor  ?  Have  you  wrecked  the  bonds 
of  marriage  or  of  the  family  for  your  own  evil  passions  ? 
Have  you  poisoned  the  moral  atmosphere  by  your  unclean- 
ness  ?  Have  you  sinned  against  the  brotherhood  by  slander 
or  mahce  or  falsehood  ?  If  so,  and  if  this  is  still  your  choice ' 
or  portion,  then  you  are  under  a  curse — the  curse  of  God. 
You  are  banned  and  barred.  No  Christian  Lent  for  you  ! 
There  is  no  way  open  into  the  consolations  or  the  gifts 
of  religious  life.  The  curse  is  on  you  ;  your  spiritual  life  is 
blighted,  your  soul  is  in  prison,  your  strength  is  sapped, 
your  claims  and  your  rights  before  God  are  stripped  off  you  ; 
you  are  a  marked  man  ;  you  may  not  belong  to  the  company 
of  those  who  go  up  to  the  sanctuary  of  God ;  you  are  cast 
out,  branded,  set  apart,  a  felon.  You  must  purge  yourself 
of  this  charge,  of  this  crime,  if  you  are  to  enter  the  ranks  of 
the  loyal  citizens  of  the  Kingdom  who  have  passed  out  of 
the  darkness  of  the  world  into  the  light  of  the  Divine  society. 
This  is  the  godly  discipline  which  you  profess  through  the 
Church  your  desire  to  restore.  You  must  be  prepared 
with    your   deliberate    '  Amen '    to    join    with    the   whole 


4  NATIONAL  PENITENCE 

assembly  in  pronouncing  your  own  curse  on  all  such  social 
sin. 

Ah  !  but,  you  say,  this  rough  plain  speaking  misses  its 
aim  after  all,  misses  it  by  its  very  rudeness.  It  belongs  to 
primitive,  to  barbaric  days  of  early  Judaism,  when  men 
sinned  with  a  strong  hand  and  with  a  brutal  frankness. 
They  went  at  it  with  a  cart-rope.  And  in  the  Prophets  and 
Psalms,  as  we  know,  we  are  taken  back  to  days  when  the 
public  conscience  had  no  definite  standard  of  principle  that 
it  could  enforce.  A  bad  man  was  not  ashamed  to  make  his 
villainy  his  open  rule  of  life.  He  deliberately  set  himself  to 
rob,  to  take  advantage  of  the  weak,  to  pillage  the  widow 
and  the  orphan,  to  lie  with  his  neighbour's  wife.  There  was 
nothing  to  make  him  afraid  or  abashed.  But  now  only  pro- 
fessed criminals  act  like  that.  What  is  the  use  of  attacking 
us  with  bare  and  raw  challenges  of  this  kind  ?  Of  course, 
we  should  not  be  here  in  Church,  we  should  not  be  pre- 
paring to  keep  the  Christian  Lent,  if  we  were  not  ready  to 
lay  our  bann  on  murder  and  stealing  and  adultery  and  ex- 
tortion. A  light  task  this  that  you  ask  of  us,  to  come  here 
to  church  to-day,  and  pronounce  other  people  accursed. 
We  could  do  that  much  with  an  easy  conscience.  Where 
would  be  the  profit  ?  Is  it  not  rather  cheap  ?  Has  it 
nothing  of  the  Pharisee  about  it,  to  stand  up  here  and  thank 
God  that  we  are  not  like  those  wicked  publicans  who  lie  and 
cheat  and  rob  ? 

That  is  a  very  pertinent  question  ;  and  if  we  had  nothing 
in  view  but  our  own  separate  individual  lives,  it  might  be 
difficult  to  recognise  the  bearing  of  the  curse  upon  our- 
selves. But,  my  brethren,  we  none  of  us  stand  alone. 
Each  is  a  member  of  a  class,  of  a  sect,  of  an  interest,  of  a 
trade,  of  a  Church ;  and  nothing  is  more  noticeable  and 
startling  to  all  who  are  anxious  over  social  miseries  than  the 
discovery  of  the  selfishness,  the  recklessness,  the  cruelty  with 
which  a  class,  or  a  sect,  or  an  interest,  or  a  trade,  or  even  a 
Church,  is  capable  of  acting.     We  do  in  the  mass  what  no 


NATIONAL  PENITENCE  5 

one  of  us  would  consent  to  do  on  his  own  responsibility — 
nay,  what  each  one  of  us  would  hotly  repudiate. 

A    COMPANY    HAS    NO    CONSCIENCE. 

Let  us  take  it  in  the  case  of  a  Company  or  a  Board.  We 
know  how  easily  it  all  happens.  The  responsibility  for  the 
action  taken  finds  no  lodgment  anywhere,  has  no  seat  of 
judgment,  no  Court  of  Appeal.  No  one  knows  with  whom 
exactly  the  responsibility  lies.  It  is  shifted  from  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  until  the  last  man,  finding  no  other  to  whom 
he  can  pass  it  on,  drops  it  quietly  off  into  some  ditch. 
And  it  is  no  one's  business  to  note  its  disappearance. 
There  is  no  audit  on  the  side  of  conscience,  no  annual 
report  in  the  company's  books  how  it  fares.  Everybody 
supposes  that  somebody  else  is  looking  out  to  see  that 
nothing  is  wrong ;  or  else  they  may  have  settled  down  to  a 
practical  belief  that  morality  is  not  the  affair  of  a  company, 
of  an  industry,  or  of  a  corporation ;  in  the  familiar  and 
most  wicked  phrase,  '  A  company  has  no  conscience.'  Such 
societies  must  seek  their  own  interests ;  they  cannot  spend 
their  time  in  inquiring  how  their  neighbours  would  be 
affected  by  their  action.  They  have  enough  on  their  hands 
already  in  determining  the  conditions  of  their  own  success, 
which  is  their  proper  business.  How  can  a  railway  com- 
pany or  a  joint  stock  bank  have  moral  obligations  beyond 
those  elementary  principles  of  honesty  without  which  trade 
itself  could  not  exist  ?  How  can  they  be  saddled  with 
duties  to  their  neighbours  as  well  as  to  themselves  ?  So  we 
all  murmur  palliative  phrases  to  choke  down  the  sense  of  dis- 
comfort with  which  we  now  and  again  find  that  we  ourselves 
have  reaped  profit  from  some  course  of  action  which  has 
sweated  down  some  miserable  workers  into  infamous  condi- 
tions of  toil  and  life ;  or  has  made  home  for  them  unknown 
and  impossible  through  the  long  hours  that  we  have 
mercilessly  imposed  upon  them ;   or  has  given  them  over 


6  NATIONAL  PENITENCE 

to  heartless  death  under  chemical  poisons,  through  sinful 
neglect  of  the  precautions  which  one  touch  of  human  nature 
would  have  made  imperative  ;  or  we  have  been  dependent 
for  our  dividends  upon  casual  and  disorganized  labour, 
which  was  inevitably  bound  to  demoralize  all  who  were 
concerned  in  it ;  or  have  got  rents  from  slums  which  were 
a  sanitary  disgrace  and  a  moral  degradation ;  or  from  public- 
houses  which  fatten  on  the  hideous  drunkenness  which 
their  blazing  gas  and  roaring  heat  fanned  nightly  into 
fever. 

Ah  !  is  there  no  room  here  for  a  plain,  straight  curse 
upon  the  sins  that  are  open,  on  the  sins  that  are  reckless, 
on  the  sins  that  are  savage  ?  And  yet  they  are  sins  which 
|we  in  some  corporate  capacity  too  often  aid  and  abet.  As 
Jwe  review  the  ugly  work  of  wrong,  let  us  seriously  ask  our- 
selves. Is  it  against  others  only,  and  in  no  way  against  our 
own  shamefaced  selves,  that  we  to-day  pronounce,  '  Cursed 
are  they  that  make  the  blind  to  go  out  of  his  way,  or  taketh 
reward  to  slay  the  innocent  ?  Cursed  are  the  unmerciful, 
fornicators,  and  adulterers,  covetous  persons,  idolaters, 
slanderers,  drunkards,  and  extortioners.  Cursed  is  he  that 
putteth  his  trust  in  man,  and  taketh  man  for  his  defence, 
and  in  his  heart  goeth  from  the  Lord.' 

We  may  sin  but  too  easily,  through  the  irresponsibility 
of  companies ;  or,  again,  we  sin  through  becoming  the  tools 
of  a  system. 

COMMERCIAL    SPECULATION. 

We  all  know  how  heartless,  how  mechanical,  a  System 
can  become.  Take  commercial  speculation.  Take  the 
money  market.  The  men  engaged  in  it  are  honest,  kindly, 
and  excellent.  They  propose  to  themselves  nothing  that 
is  not  legitimate,  according  to  the  rules  of  business.  Yet 
the  System  itself  that  is  created  by  their  concerted  efforts — 
what  of  it  ?     What  of  its  effects  ?     How  blind,  how  regard- 


NATIONAL  PENITENCE  7 

less,  how  inhuman  may  its  workings  be  !  How  far  it  may 
carry  us  from  all  conceivable  relations  to  moral  responsi- 
bilities !  As  a  System  it  is  but  too  apt  to  take  advantage  of 
others'  ignorance,  of  others'  stupidity,  of  others'  infirmities ; 
it  reaps  its  gain  by  others'  vanity  and  greed;  its  normal 
work  tends  to  exaggerate  all  fluctuations  and  uncertainties 
and  disturbances  of  the  money  market,  driving  them  into 
unnatural  excess  in  order  that  the  rapidity  and  extrava- 
gance of  the  variations  may  heighten  the  possibility  of 
profits.  As  a  System,  it  stamps  down  that  which  shows 
some  signs  of  weakness,  however  temporary  and  accidental 
these  may  be,  so  that  recovery  is  made  impossible ;  it  runs 
up  anything  that  promises  well  into  some  unhealthy  and 
inflated  pre-eminence,  and  then  hastily  deserts  it,  before 
the  terrible  recoil  follows  which  its  own  exertions  have 
made  inevitable,  leaving  the  disaster  to  break  on  the  foolish 
and  ignorant,  who  had  not  wit  enough  to  understand  that 
they  were  following  leaders  who  would  be  found  to  have 
withdrawn  before  the  crisis  came.  My  brothers,  as  we  look 
round  the  English  money  market  to-day,  dare  we  say  that 
there  is  no  meaning  for  us  in  the  curse  on  him  who  re- 
moveth  his  neighbour's  landmark ;  on  him  who  is  un- 
merciful ;  on  him  who  maketh  the  blfnd  to  go  out  of  his 
way? 

And  classes,  interests,  professions — these  all  can  commit 
gross  sins  from  which  any  individual  member  of  these  would 
instinctively  shrink.  There  is  a  horrible  momentum  which 
a  vast  profession  or  class  may  acquire — a  momentum  of 
accumulated  self-interest.  Always  a  profession  makes  in 
the  mass  for  what  is  best  for  itself.  It  sustains  an  unceasing 
pressure  in  the  one  direction  ;  it  pushes  its  own  way  forward 
with  the  blind  weight  of  a  tide.  Year  by  year,  and  bit  by 
bit,  it  will  go  on  piling  up  its  resources  ;  it  never  loses  a 
step  once  gained,  and  never  misses  an  opportunity  for 
secret  and  solid  advance.  It  thrusts  aside  by  sheer  pres- 
sure what  obstructs;    it  beats  under  what  is  weaker  than 


8  NATIONAL  PENITENCE 

itself.  It  all  happens  by  the  sheer  force  of  the  situation. 
No  one  person  in  the  profession  or  class  exactly  intends 
it ;  only  each  will  tolerate  on  behalf  of  his  class  what  he 
would  never  dream  of  doing  on  behalf  of  himself;  and  the 
volume  of  united  selfishness  is  therefore  ever  moving  on. 
And  so  it  has  come  about  that  a  great  and  honourable  pro- 
fession, such  as  that  of  the  Law  or  of  the  Clergy,  has,  before 
now,  found  itself,  to  its  own  surprise,  convicted,  by  the 
outraged  conscience  of  its  fellows,  of  injustice,  harshness, 
greed,  ambition.  So  a  propertied  class  has  before  now 
come  to  build  up  its  stability  on  some  unhappy  oppression ; 
it  has  tolerated  criminal  miseries  at  its  very  doors  without 
seeming  to  see  that  they  existed.  It  has  acquiesced  in  a 
condition  which  its  own  supremacy  has  made  to  seem 
familiar  and  natural,  yet  which  every  human -hearted 
member  in  the  class  would  condemn  with  indignation  if 
it  was  his  07V7i  benefit  which  was  bought  at  such  a  price. 
A  class,  an  institution,  has  no  eyes  to  see  what  its  own 
prosperity  costs  to  others.  Thus  it  is  that  those  social 
crimes  have  been  committed  which  have  been  blotted  out 
in  revolution  and  in  blood.  Thus  it  is  that  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ,  founded  in  mercy  and  pity  and  loving-kindness, 
knit  together  in  the  love  of  the  brotherhood,  in  the  unity 
of  the  Spirit,  in  the  bond  of  peace,  has,  as  an  organization, 
as  a  national  institution,  yielded  so  often  in  the  Past  to  the 
impulsion  of  its  own  self-interest,  and  has  suffered  itself  to 
arrive  at  a  position  which  has  made  it  become  the  very  by- 
word for  arrogance  and  merciless  ambition.  All  this  has 
happened — we  know  it  but  too  well ;  history  records  it  over 
and  over  again  with  an  iron  pen  graven  upon  rock  for  our 
warning. 

to-day's  alarm  bell. 

And   can    it    be    that    this    old    story    should,    in    any 
degree    be   repeating    itself    before    our    eyes    to-day   in 


NATIONAL  PENITENCE  g 

England  ?  There  is,  at  least,  evidence  enough  to  make 
us  suspect  ourselves.  We  all  feel  so  innocent,  so  well- 
intentioned,  so  right-minded.  Why,  then,  this  cry  of  sullen 
hate  which  rises  into  our  ears  from  those  who  suffer  ?  Why 
should  the  cloud  of  dismay  hang  so  heavy  over  England, 
our  fair  mother-land,  the  home  of  freedom,  set  as  a  jewel 
in  the  midst  of  the  seas  ?  Why  do  we  fear  to  look  our 
brethren  in  the  face  as  the  fierce  war  of  competition  clangs 
on  and  on  in  ruthless  disregard  ;  and  the  weak  are  crushed  ; 
and  the  old  are  forsaken  ;  and  the  bitterness  of  misunder- 
standing sharpens  our  divisions  ?  Why  is  it  that  this  Church 
of  ours,  this  Church  of  England,  so  dear  to  us,  so  rich  in 
her  catholic  inheritance,  so  interwoven  into  England's  story, 
so  tingling  with  English  blood ;  a  Church,  too,  so  teeming 
with  activity,  so  fervent,  so  alive  with  prayer  and  worship — 
why  is  it  that  nevertheless  she  should  somehow  appear  to 
the  masses  of  English  workers  in  country  and  in  town, 
now  at  the  very  crisis  of  their  fate,  as  if  she  stood  aloof 
from  their  life,  and  was  cold  to  their  aspirations,  and 
suspicious  of  their  aims,  and  helpless  in  their  needs  ;  why 
should  she  wear  the  aspect  to  them  of  something  privileged 
and  propertied,  jealous  and  timid,  and  carry  with  her  so 
little  of  the  likeness  of  Christ?  Surely  there  is  wrong 
here,  wrong  deep  and  large  and  gross,  such  wrong  as  may 
fall  under  a  curse. 

We  can  find  no  such  wrong  in  ourselves.  No ;  but  we 
are  members  of  the  society  which  is  thus  at  enmity  with 
itself;  members  of  a  nation  which  is  embittered  by  these 
heart-burnings  ;  members  of  this  Church  which  so  fails  to 
interpret  and  justify  to  the  democracy  the  goodness  of  God 
the  Father,  the  compassion  and  joy  and  strength  of  Christ 
our  King.  Look  away  to-day  over  the  nation  at  large, 
and  behold  there  the  evil  to  which  our  selfishness  con- 
tributes, the  sorrow  and  the  hate  for  which  we  must  share 
the  responsibility.  It  is  our  public  burdens  that  we  are 
summoned  to  assume.      That  which  dishonours   England 


10  NATIONAL  PENITENCE 

is  our  personal  dishonour.  That  which  puts  Christ  to 
shame  Hes  heavy  on  our  souls.  Let  to-day  be  a  day  of 
national  humiliation  for  presenting  to  God  so  disheartening 
a  result  of  Christian  civilization  as  that  on  which  our  eyes  so 
sadly  fall.  Let  us  ask  ourselves  why  we,  as  a  nation,  have 
lost  so  much  of  our  national  peace — our  national  confi- 
dence in  the  name  of  Jesus.  Why  has  the  curse  fallen 
upon  us,  the  curse  of  a  divided  house,  and  of  paralyzed 
judgment,  and  of  wounds  that  will  not  heal  ?  Into 
each  separate  soul  these  questions  must  pierce  like  barbed 
arrows  that  cannot  be  withdrawn.  Only  according  to 
the  measure  with  which  each  soHtary  conscience  takes 
home  these  things  as  matter  of  private  personal  concern, 
will  the  day  of  remedy  dawn.  True,  it  is  not  all  wrong, 
not  all  black.  There  is  earnestness  in  all  classes,  and 
patience,  and  moral  soundness,  and  charitable  zeal.  There 
is  a  spirit  of  Christ-like  devotion  at  work  in  the  Church, 
that  impels  thousands  of  men  and  women  into  lives  of 
mercy,  that  make  for  goodness  and  for  peace.  These  are  the 
salt  that  saves  society  from  corruption.  These  keep  alive 
the  fire  of  sacrifice,  and  therefore  of  hope.  But  nothing 
of  this  should  blind  us  to  the  terrible  things  still  left  undone, 
or  should  bribe  us  into  murmuring  '  peace '  where  peace 
has  not  yet  been  won.  We  are  so  tempted  to  let  our  good 
works,  done  in  private,  hide  from  us  our  public  wrong-doings. 
And  therefore  it  is  that  you  and  I  are  charged  by  the 
Church  to  face  these  tremendous  arraignments  at  the 
opening  of  Lent.  Therefore  to-day  we  are  each  for  him- 
self, with  trembling  anxiety,  to  put  the  question  to  himself 
alone.  Can  it  be  that  I,  as  member  of  a  class,  of  a  profes- 
sion, of  a  trade,  of  a  society,  of  a  Church,  of  a  nation,  have 
indeed  ministered  in  any  way  to  this  curse?  Can  it  be 
that  unawares,  in  negligence,  in  culpable  disregard,  I  have 
wrung  gain  out  of  the  weak,  or  have  shifted  my  neighbour's 
landmark  ?  Have  I  aided  in  perverting  the  judgment  of 
the  fatherless  and  the  widow  ?     Have  I  joined  hands  with 


NATIONAL  PENITENCE  n 

the  unmerciful  and  the  extortioner,  and  the  covetous,  the 
drunkard,  the  adulterer?  If  I  have,  God  be  merciful  to 
me  a  sinner ;  God  be  merciful  to  the  nation  and  the  Church 
that  sinned  in  me !  O  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the 
sins  of  the  world,  have  mercy  upon  us  !  Grant  us  Thy 
peace ! 


SOCIAL  WARNINGS  FROM  HISTORY. 

BY    THE 

VERY  REV.  G.  W.  KITCHIN, 

DEAN    OF   WINCHESTER. 

'  Behold,  this  child  is  set  for  the 
falling  and  rising  zip  of  7nany  iji 
Israel ;  and  for  a  sign  tvhich  is 
spoken  against.' — Luke  ii.  34  ( H.V.). 

FROM  the  very  dawn  of  Christianity,  when  Simeon 
took  our  Saviour,  a  Httle  sinless  babe,  in  his 
arms,  down  to  to-day,  throughout  the  whole 
range  of  the  history  of  Christianity,  this  has 
been  the  keynote  of  the  strife — 'Set  for  the  falling  and 
rising  up  of  many  in  Israel,  and  for  a  sign  which  is  spoken 
against.'  There  is  no  delusion  about  Christianity.  It  is 
a  common  thing  with  those  who  think  ill  of  our  Faith  to 
tell  us  it  is  based  upon  a  delusion.  It  is  no  such  thing. 
Christianity  is  firmly  based  on  a  Divine  knowledge  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  human  being  and  of  human  nature, 
and  a  determination — which  the  Church  has  often  forgotten, 
often  neglected,  often  turned  its  back  on — that  nothing  in 
human  nature  shall  be  glozed  over,  or  put  on  one  side,  or 
pretended  to  be  good  when  it  is  bad  ;  but  that  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end,  from  then  till  now,  the  same  choice 
between  God  and  mammon,  between  God  and  sin,  between 
God  and  selfishness,  between  God  and  what  we  call  the 
devil,  this  same  test,  this  same  choice,  is  laid  before  man- 
kind to  take  or  to  refuse,  and  woe  to  him  who  refuses  the 


SOCIAL  WARNINGS  FROM  HISTORY  13 

right  and  chooses  the  wrong ;  and  God's  blessing  upon  him 
who  in  the  critical  moments  of  his  life  knows  how  to  choose 
the  right  and  set  the  wrong  boldly  and  bravely  on  one  side. 

The  reason  we  keep  Lent  is  not  the  old-fashioned  reason 
at  all.  The  reason  is  this — we  are  determined  to  bring 
before  our  fellow-countrymen,  our  brethren,  those  matters 
with  regard  to  the  Christian  faith  which  are  too  apt  to  be 
forgotten,  beginning,  of  course,  with  that  most  solemn 
question  of  all.  How  far  has  Christ's  Gospel,  how  far  has 
the  little  Babe  of  Bethlehem,  been  or  not  been  accepted  by 
us  ?  Then  the  question — How  far  in  God's  providence,  and 
by  our  efforts,  poor  and  feeble  as  they  have  been,  have  we 
endeavoured,  and  has  the  Church  through  the  ages  en- 
deavoured, to  carry  out  the  true  principles  of  the  salvation 
of  man  by  Christ ;  the  true  principle  which  Jesus  Christ 
taught  when  He  came  into  the  world,  God  and  man,  in  order 
that  He  might  Hft  mankind  to  a  higher  level,  in  order  that 
we  with  Him  might  rise  in  this  world  to  a  nobler  state  and 
to  heavenly  places  ? 

That  is  the  rising ;  and  what  is  the  falling  ?  The  history 
of  the  Church  is  constantly  teaching  us  the  reply  to  that 
question.  For  the  Church  is  continually  falling — I  care  not 
who  may  be  staggered  at  such  a  word  as  that — is  it  not 
true?  Have  we  not  here  the  very  institution,  the  great 
home  of  the  life  of  God  in  Christ,  this  very  Body  of  Christ 
continually  tending  downward  instead  of  soaring  heaven- 
wards ? — though,  God  be  thanked,  if  we  trace  the  story  of  it 
through  the  ages,  we  discern  that  it  does  slowly  rise,  lifting 
with  it  the  heavy  reluctant  burden  of  society.  Everyone 
who  has  even  for  a  moment  meditated  on  the  historical 
problems  which  differentiate  modern  Europe,  modern  life, 
the  modern  world,  from  the  old  world  ;  everyone  who  in  the 
light  of  our  present  day  tests  the  whole  history  of  Christi- 
anity, is  filled  with  an  awful  sense  that  there  is  something 
that  has  gone  quite  wrong,  that  there  is  something  in  Christi- 
anity which  has  not  met  the  difficulties,  which  has  not  over- 


14  SOCIAL   WARNINGS  FROM  HISTORY 

come  evils,  which  has  not  moved  with  the  times,  which  has 
often  failed  to  raise  mankind  to  a  higher  level. 

We  yearn  to  be  sure,  my  friends,  with  all  our  hearts,  that 
here,  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  is  hope  for  the  present,  and 
hope  for  the  future  ;  but  above  all  things  let  me  urge  you, 
as  you  care  for  things  heavenly,  not  to  think  that  things 
heavenly  are  to  be  cut  asunder  from  things  earthly.  For  it 
is  true  that  the  'kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  us  ';  it  is  not 
that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  some  external  force  acting  on 
us  from  without  :  it  is  that  God's  Holy  Spirit  has  entered 
into  our  hearts  and  has  made  a  home  and  a  blessing  for  us 
and  for  all  whom  we  can  influence. 

DWELLERS    IN    CAVES. 

I  am  glad  this  morning  to  be  called  on  to  speak  to  you 
about  what  are  called  the  Social  Warnings  from  History. 
There  are  such  a  number  of  them  that  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  do  more  than  take  two  or  three  of  the  more  salient 
and  more  prominent  of  the  series  ;  and  with  these  I  must 
content  myself  in  the  short  time  at  my  disposal.     I  have 
already  spoken  to  you  of  our  Saviour  in   Simeon's  arms. 
That  was  a  social  warning  of  the  deepest  kind,  in  that  we 
are  called  upon  by  the  very  existence  of  the  Christian  faith 
to  choose  between   good  and  evil ;   this  lies  at  the  very 
foundation  of  all  social  progress.     All  social  progress  means 
in  its   very  essence  the  progress  of  the   individual.      No 
doubt,  social  progress,  backed  up  by  legislation,  by  public 
opinion,  and  by  those  aids  with  which  we  endeavour  to 
strengthen  what  is  good  within  us,  affects  in  the  ultimate 
result  the  character  of  the  individual.     It  is  that  the   man 
has  learned,  God  helping  him  in  his  work,  to  choose  the 
good  and  to  refuse  the  evil.     It  is  that  the  man  has  said, 
'  My  life,  God  being  with  me,  shall  be  strong,  and  shall  be 
pure,  and  shall  do  no  wrong  to  my  neighbours,  and  shall 
not  take  part  in  any  of  the  cruelties  or  dark  deeds  of  the 


SOCIAL  WARNINGS  FROM  HISTORY  15 

world  ;  but  shall  be  spent  as  in  the  sight  of  God,  because 
God  has  given  me  of  His  Holy  Spirit,  because  God  has 
saved  me  in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.'  And  unless  this  result 
is  well  marked  and  frequent,  in  other  words,  unless  it 
can  be  seen  to  raise  and  strengthen  the  individual  man,  and 
unless  the  Christian  society  can  boast  truly  that  it  has  given 
fresh  life  to  the  independence,  the  self-control,  the  instinct 
of  justice,  of  mercy,  of  purity,  within  the  individual,  society 
will  be  on  the  downward  path,  and  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
must  have  suffered  some  dark  eclipse.  When  Christ  called 
His  followers  'the  salt  of  the  earth,'  He  told  them  that  the 
individual  was  more  than  the  society  ;  they  must  always  act 
on  each  other  ;  that  community  in  which  the  body  politic 
weakens  or  obscures  the  individual  is  in  an  evil  plight. 

Now,  soon  after  the  Church  had  begun  to  feel  its  feet  in 
the  world,  not  very  long  after  the  death  of  the  last  of  the 
Apostles,  there  came  a  time — those  were  not  good  times  in 
the  world's  history,  for  the  world  was  very  corrupt — when 
men  fervent  for  Christ,  earnest  persons  if  ever  there  were 
earnest  persons,  Christians  to  the  back-bone,  made  this 
tremendous  mistake — I  do  not  suppose  that  any  of  you  are 
likely  to  do  the  same — they  thought  that  they  could  best 
get  to  heaven  by  cutting  themselves  off  from  their  fellow- 
creatures  ;  they  made  the  mistake  of  going  out  into  the 
wilderness  as  hermits  ;  they  made  the  mistake  of  saying  that 
all  the  desires,  all  the  tendencies,  all  the  characteristics  of 
this  frail  human  body  of  ours  are  bad  things,  and  have 
nothing  .  good  in  them  ;  '  we  will,  therefore,  macerate  our- 
selves, we  will  live  apart  from  men,  we  will  dwell  in  a  cave, 
we  will  eat  the  scanty  root,  we  will  drink  water  when  we  can 
get  it,  and  ask  for  nothing  else.'  In  all  these  points  they 
determined  to  cut  themselves  away  from  their  fellow  creatures, 
and  to  have  no  more  to  do  with  any  human  being  whatever, 
and  thus  they  hoped  to  get  leisure  in  which  to  cultivate  their 
spiritual  nature.  That  was  the  first  turning  away  from  the 
true  principles  of  Christianity. 


l6  SOCIAL   WARNINGS  FROM  HISTORY 

For  our  dear  Lord  went  in  and  out  doing  good ;  He 
touched  the  leper,  He  raised  the  fallen,  He  healed  the 
wounds  of  the  suffering ;  He  was  always  with  those  who 
wanted  Him  most.  And  yet  no  sooner  was  He  gone  than 
a  whole  school  of  Christian  people  turned  away  from  the 
true  principles  of  Christianity,  and  lived  selfish  lives,  caring 
only  for  themselves,  thinking  only  of  their  own  souls. 

Is  that  a  class  of  people  which  has  entirely  vanished  in 
these  days  ?  I  think  not.  We  do  not  expect,  when  we  go 
into  the  wilder  mountains  of  Switzerland  or  elsewhere,  to 
come  suddenly  on  a  cave  in  a  mountain-side,  and  there  see 
an  emaciated  saint  working  out  his  own  salvation.  No  such 
thing  as  that.  Still,  in  the  very  heart  of  English  life, 
as  we  see  it  moving  round  us,  do  we  not  find  hundreds  of 
people  who  have  made  up  their  minds  to  get  to  heaven,  but 
who  have  lost  the  road,  thinking  that  heaven  is  to  be  gained 
only  by  cutting  themselves  away  from  the  interests  of  their 
fellows,  by  taking  no  share  in  social  responsibilities,  by 
standing  always  in  direct  opposition  to  what  in  their  enthu- 
siasm they  call  'the  world'?  We  are  in  the  world,  but  we 
need  not  be  of  the  world.  Be  not  of  the  world,  but  always 
in  the  world — that  is  Christ's  message  to  us.  This  is  my 
first  social  warning  :  let  us  never  take  part  with  those  who 
think  that  the  conditions  of  their  brothers'  lives  are  as 
nothing  to  them  in  comparison  with  the  securing  of  their 
own  salvation.  No  man  ever  got  to  heaven  by  planning  it 
for  himself  alone.  No  man  ever  got  to  heaven  by  forgetting 
his  brother. 

WHO    IS    THE    church's    ALLY? 

The  next  social  warning  we  may  take  is  that  which  is 
afforded  us  by  the  time  of  Constantine.  When  the  Church 
of  Christ  became  an  Established  Church,  when  it  became 
the  friend  and  companion  of  great  princes,  when  it  took  the 
lead  in  the  world  as  the  understood  and  recognised  religion 


SOCIAL   WARNINGS  FROM  HISTORY  17 

of  the  Western  world,  there  was  great  danger  connected 
with  that  too.  To  go  into  the  details  would  take  too 
long,  nor  do  I  desire  to  enter  on  any  of  the  more  thorny 
of  the  controversies  raging  in  our  day,  and  likely  ere  long 
to  become  matters  of  acute  strife.  I  will,  however,  say 
this :  the  fact  that  the  Church  attached  herself  to  the 
princes  of  the  world  led  to  her  immense  influence,  and  led 
at  the  same  time  to  her  great  loss.  For  when  those  strong 
children  of  nature,  the  Germanic  tribes,  overwhelmed  the 
disorganized  and  corrupted  Roman  Empire,  then  it  was 
that  the  Church  of  Christ  for  the  first  time  became  distinctly 
the  Church  of  War  as  opposed  to  the  Church  of  Peace  ;  and 
that  stain  on  the  Church  of  Christ — that  she  blessed  war 
instead  of  ensuing  peace  —  has  clung  to  it  from  that 
day  to  this.  It  made  the  tremendous  mistake  of  attaching 
itself  to  the  powers  of  this  world  instead  of  trusting  only  in 
the  strength  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  Church  of  Christ 
should  have  remembered  that  God's  Spirit,  and  God's  Spirit 
only,  can  carry  us  safely  through  the  changes  and  chances  of 
this  mortal  Hfe.  They  did  not  sufficiently  recognise  this ; 
instead,  they  relied  on  the  support  and  patronage  of  the 
princes  of  the  day,  on  the  great  warrior,  on  the  great 
monarch.  '  Whosoever  will  save  his  life  shall  lose  it ;  and 
whosoever  will  lose  his  life  for  My  sake  the  same  shall  save 
it,'  is  a  text  which  is  worth  a  great  deal  of  thought.  For  the 
Church  went  near  to  losing  her  soul  w^hen,  for  the  sake  of 
protection  and  influence  in  those  turbulent  days,  she  placed 
herself  under  the  3egis  of  the  war  power  of  the  Germanic  con- 
querors. We  need  to  take  warning  from  the  social  evil  of 
attaching  ourselves  to  the  strong,  to  the  great  of  this  world, 
rather  than  to  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  next  warning,  on  which  we  may  only  touch,  is  that 
arising  out  of  the  Reformation.  I  am  one  of  those  who 
think  that  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  a 
real  blessing.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no  doubt  that  at  the 
period  of  the  Reformation  a  great  many  evils  crept  into  the 


1 8  SOCIAL  WARNINGS  FROM  HISTORY 

Church.  Above  all,  there  was  one  element  which,  though 
not  altogether  lost,  fell  into  the  background  (and  I  may 
say  in  passing  that  in  Christianity,  as  in  all  human  life, 
doctrines,  opinions,  movements  rise  and  fall,  grow  up  and 
die  down);  this  was  the  recognition  of  the  work  of  God's  Spirit 
in  the  Church  and  through  the  Church.  The  reformers  of 
that  time,  by  clinging  to  certain  Biblical  doctrines  which 
were  certainly  true,  and  by  shutting  their  eyes  because 
of  the  prevalence  of  overlying  superstition  to  others  which 
were  equally  true — the  reformers  seem  to  me  to  have  lost 
sight  of  the  highest  and  most  spiritual  of  all  the  elements  in 
the  corporate  life  of  the  Church. 

A    CHURCH    THAT    FELL. 

Coming  nearer  to  our  own  time,  we  have  a  startling 
warning  from  the  evils  which  led  to  the  French  Revolution. 
That  was  a  time  when  France,  that  had  been  in  the  van 
of  civiHzation  for  at  least  two  centuries,  was  definitely  called 
on  to  answer  this  question,  '  Has  the  Christian  religion,  as 
you  know  and  understand  it,  power  and  Hfe  in  it  to  mould 
the  new  elements  of  society  in  a  way  that  shall  be  whole- 
some and  permanent  and  good  ?'  And  to  this  question, 
which  is  certain  to  be  asked  of  Christianity  at  every  crisis  of 
opinion,  at  every  period  of  civil  disturbance,  at  every  time 
;  of  social  growth,  when  new  forces  come  into  play,  when  life 
enters  on  fresh  phases,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  '  old  wine  in 
new  bottles,'  came  the  unhappy  answer,  '  No  !'  The  Church 
had  lost  the  power.  Never  was  there  such  a  No  in  the  world's 
\  history  ;  never  such  an  occasion  of  the  failure  of  the  Church 
1 — of  the  failure  of  Christianity  I  will  not  say,  but  of  the 
■failure  of  the  Church — as  was  seen  in  those  tumultuous 
years  when  a  new  life  was  born  to  Europe. 

There  were  two  kinds  of  clergy  in  the  France  of  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  noble  clergy  and 
the  peasant   clergy.     The   noble  clergy  were  a  large  and 


SOCIAL   WARNINGS  FROM  HISTORY  19 

powerful  body,  drawn  from  the  younger  sons  of  the  noble 
families  of  France.  They  all,  more  or  less,  took  holy 
orders  in  order  that  they  might  get  hold  of  the  abbeys,  and 
bishoprics,  and  all  the  advantages,  the  pickings,  as  we  should 
now  call  them,  that  were  to  be  got  from  an  Established 
Church  in  that  day.  Never  was  it  heard  in  that  period 
that  any  man  from  the  ranks,  however  able,  had  risen  to 
be  a  great  personage  in  the  Church.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  noble  part  of  the  clergy  attached  themselves  com- 
pletely to  the  Court,  and  to  the  noblesse,  with  which  indeed 
they  were  closely  connected :  they  were  the  sons,  the 
nephews,  the  personal  friends  of  the  aristocracy  ;  the  same 
blue  blood  ran  in  their  veins.  And  it  was  this  body  of 
clergy  which  to  the  outer  world  represented  the  Church  of 
France. 

When  the  Revolution  came  it  was  heralded  by  the  voice 
of  Voltaire.  He  took  the  side  of  the  nobility.  Though 
not  himself  of  noble  origin,  he  attached  himself  entirely  to 
courts  and  great  persons,  and  gave  them  the  benefit  of  his 
brilliant  wit,  his  scathing  tongue.  The  new  spirit  had 
entered  into  him  ;  he  represented  the  proposed  reforms 
'from  above.'  Voltaire  therefore  spoke  the  new  ideas  as 
they  were  being  conveyed  to  the  noblesse ;  and  his  battle- 
cry  was,  '  Christ  is  to  be  crushed.'  Christ  and  Christianity 
and  the  Established  Church  to  him  meant  the  same  thing. 
To  him  it  all  represented  the  constant  force  of  reaction  and 
resistance,  and  his  fierce  cry  became  the  oriflamme  of  the 
new  v/ar  against  the  Church  in  France.  When  he  raised 
this  terrible  standard  against  their  faith,  not  a  voice  was 
raised  by  the  cultivated  clergy,  nor  any  resistance  made  by 
the  EstabHshed  Church.  It  shuddered  and  sank  down  and 
died. 

The  other  half  of  the  clergy — nay,  nine-tenths  of  the 
clergy — belonged  to  the  peasant  class,  and  had,  for  the 
most  part,  the  charge  of  the  country  parishes  all  over  the 
kingdom.     These  men  were  cut  asunder  from  those  in  the 


20  SOCIAL   WARNINGS  FROM  HISTORY 

higher  ranks  ;  they  were  in  the  deepest  ignorance  ;  they 
scarcely  knew  how  to  perform  the  daily  services ;  they  often 
scarcely  knew  the  meaning  of  the  words  they  used.  Yet 
they  were  fond  of  their  people,  and  some  of  them  took  a 
very  wholesome  and  honourable  part  at  the  beginning  of  the 
movement  of  the  Revolution  ;  but  they  were  helpless,  be- 
cause of  the  terrible  drawback  that  they  were  ignorant, 
absolutely  ignorant. 

Voltaire  was  the  prophet  of  the  upper  classes.  A  prophet 
of  the  common  people  also  arose,  and  that  was  Rousseau. 
Rousseau  taught  a  popular  doctrine,  the  doctrine  of  affection, 
the  doctrine  of  sentimentality,  the  doctrine  of  love  of  man 
for  man,  the  doctrine  that  we  are  hearing  perpetually  at  the 
present  day  in  England.  Rousseau  preached  this  doctrine 
to  the  people  of  France ,  and  where  the  Church  obtained 
one  hearer,  Rousseau  obtained  a  hundred.  The  result  was 
that  when  the  crash  came  the  country  clergy  were  also  swept 
away,  when  the  flood  overwhelmed  the  noble  clergy.  The 
attitude  of  the  Church  at  the  time  of  the  French  Revolution 
was  that  of  absolute  helplessness  to  do  or  say  one  word  on 
the  subject  of  these  great  doctrines  which  lie  at  the  founda- 
tion of  the  best  social  life ;  and  which  if  they  be  neglected 
react  with  fearful  force  on  us  clergy,  and  on  our  flocks. 


THE    CHURCH    AS    LABOURS    FRIEND. 

I  had  meant,  had  there  been  time,  to  speak  about  the 
way  in  which  the  Church  of  England  is  bound  in  our  day 
to  pay  the  greatest  heed  to  civil  and  social  matters,  and  to 
stand  forth  as  a  friend  and  teacher  of  the  people ;  for  they 
greatly  need  wise  guidance  with  regard  to  those  social  pro- 
blems which  are  rising  up  continually  about  us,  and  are  re- 
ceiving daily,  and  justly  so,  more  and  more  attention  at  the 
hands  of  the  community.  The  people  of  this  country  re- 
ceived, as  you  know,  their  share  of  power  some  years  ago ; 


SOCIAL  WARNINGS  FROM  HISTORY  21 

it  is  a  power  which  they  are  still  learning  how  to  use.  Had 
the  Church  of  England  understood  how  to  come  to  the 
forefront  and  make  friends  with  the  working  man,  for  that 
is  the  bottom  of  it ;  had  the  Church  of  England  been  able 
to  say  with  a  clear  conscience,  '  All  our  heart  goes  with 
those  who  work  ; '  had  she  had  the  grace  to  say,  '  Our 
leaders  are  of  one  mind  with  the  workers  of  the  country  ; 
the  wage-worker  is  the  man  we  want  to  raise,  to  teach  him 
great  principles,  to  teach  him  how  to  rule  his  house,  and  take 
part  in  public  affairs ' — if  this  had  been  our  attitude,  what 
a  splendid  thing  it  would  have  been  for  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land !  Then  it  might  have  been  felt  by  men  who  have  been 
alienated  from  us,  that  there  is  after  all  something  good 
in  the  Church  of  England.  God  grant  that  it  may  not  yet 
be  too  late  ;  that  we  may  still  be  able  to  show  that  we  can 
rise  to  the  duties  of  our  day  !  Why  should  not  the  Church 
be  able  to  repeat  the  words  of  Montrose  when  in  his  pride 
in  and  love  for  his  country,  and  his  strong  self-reliance,  he 
did  not  fear  to  say  to  Caledonia  : 

'  I'll  make  thee  famous  by  my  pen 
And  glorious  by  my  sword  '? 

That  is  what  the  Church  should  say  to  the  people  of  Eng- 
land :  'Famous  by  our  pen'  —  by  our  learning,  by  our 
knowledge,  by  our  being  able  to  persuade  men  of  the  truth ; 
and  '  Glorious  by  the  sword  ' — the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  by 
which  we  will  choose  the  good  and  avoid  the  evil,  with 
which  we  will  go  forth  in  the  power  of  God,  smiting  with  a 
good  courage  at  the  devil  and  showing  that  it  is  our  religion 
to  be  the  champions  of  the  weak,  the  friends  of  the  wage- 
earner,  the  true  '  St.  George  for  merry  England.' 


WASTED  LIVES. 


REV.  A.  F.  W.  INGRAM, 

HEAD    OF    OXFORD    HOUSE,    BETHNAL   GREEN. 

'  For  what  shall  a  man  be  profited, 
if  he  shall  gain  the  zvhole  world  and 
forfeit  his  life  ?  or  what  shall  a  man 
give  in  exchange  for  his  life  ?' — St. 
Matthew  xvi.  26  (R.V). 

THE  mystery  of  life  is  as  great  a  mystery  as  ever. 
Men  in  these  days  are  apt  often  to  dislike  mys- 
teries, and  to  say  that  they  cannot  believe  in 
the  miraculous.  But  we  men  all  believe  in 
one  miracle,  the  greatest  break  in  the  uniformity  of  Nature 
ever  known — the  gift  of  life,  and  we  all  accept  one  mystery 
— the  mystery  of  life.  Though  we  cannot  define  that  mys- 
tery, we  see  that  the  gift  of  life  is  a  sacred  thing  and  a 
thing  that  we  have  no  right  to  destroy  in  ourselves  or  to 
endanger  in  others ;  and  we  who  live  among  working  men 
cannot  but  regret  that  any  effort  designed  to  safeguard  the 
lives  of  our  friends  should  have  failed  from  any  cause. 

But  the  subject  given  me  to-day  is  even  a  more  vital  ques- 
tion than  this,  because  it  concerns  the  life  of  man  as  man. 
Man  is  not  merely  an  animal.  He  has  more  than  a  physical 
life.  It  would  be  impossible  for  our  Lord  to  have  said  that, 
'Whosoever  will  save  his  physical  life  shall  lose  it;  and  whoso- 
ever will  lose  his  physical  fife  for  My  sake  shall  find  it.'     It 


WASTED  LIVES 


23 


is  the  life  of  man  as  man,  as  mysterious,  but  as  real  as  the 
physical  life,  of  which  we  are  to  speak  to-day.  Although  we 
cannot  define  it,  yet  there  are  certain  things  we  can  see 
about  it.  We  can  see  that  it  is  independent  of  wealth. 
Give  a  man  a  chance  in  Bethnal  Green,  and  he  will  live  as 
true  and  deep  a  life  as  any  man  in  Belgravia.  We  see  that 
the  life  of  man  is  independent  also  of  popularity.  The  true 
man's  life  does  generally  win  and  attract,  but  it  also  may 
be  crucified  on  Calvary.  And  as  we  see  what  that  life  is 
independent  of,  so  also  we  see  of  what  it  is  the  secret.  It 
is  the  secret,  and  the  only  secret,  of  rest  to  a  man's  con- 
science. You  see  a  man  restless,  uncertain.  What  is  the 
cause  of  his  restlessness  ?  He  is  not  living  the  hfe  which 
God  has  given  him  to  live.  This  life  is  also  the  secret  of 
power.  Who  are  the  men  that  have  turned  the  world  upside 
down  but  men  like  Lord  Shaftesbury,  who  have  lived  out 
their  lives  to  the  full  ?  Again,  it  is  the  secret  of  progress. 
Many  a  man  starts  in  life  with  very  moderate  intellectual 
gifts,  but  by  Hving  his  life  to  the  full  he  often  surpasses  those 
who  are  far  cleverer  than  himself. 

And  so  we  are  forced  to  ask  this  question — in  this  extraor- 
dinary mystery  of  the  life  of  man,  which  stands  before 
everyone  in  this  church  to-day,  are  there  any  essentials  that 
we  can  fix  upon  without  which  a  man's  life  is  a  wasted 
and  not  a  true  one  ?  I.  The  first  —  and  I  am  careful  as 
one  who  aims  at  being  a  social  reformer  to  say  it — the 
first  essential  of  the  true  man's  life  is  that  it  must  be  in 
communion  with  God.  We  call  this,  and  perhaps  rightly, 
the  Church  Forward  Movement.  But  with  all  the  failures 
of  the  Church  in  the  past  it  has  never  ceased  to  be  a  witness 
to  the  unseen  ;  and  if  we  go  into  this  great  battle  relaxing 
our  hold  on  the  unseen  forces  of  strength,  the  Church  For- 
ward Movement  will  carry  itself  a  very  little  way.  We  have 
to  be  in  communion  with  God.  Life  comes  from  life  in  a 
spiritual  as  in  a  physical  sense.  And  when  you  see  a  man 
who  is  now,  perhaps,  in   middle  life,  giving  up  what  his 


24  WASTED  LIVES 

mother  taught  him — when  you  see  a  man  thinking  that  busy 
philanthropy  will  make  up  for  this  first  element  in  his  life, 
you  see  him  committing  a  fundamental  mistake.  Man  is  a 
praying  animal,  and  he  cannot  help  it.  That  is  the  first  thing 
which  distinguishes  him  from  the  mere  animal.  A  man  who 
represses  or  ignores  that  side  of  his  nature  is  so  far  living  a 
wasted  life. 

II.  Secondly,  if  the  life  of  a  man  is  lived  in  communion  with 
God,  one  characteristic  of  that  life  is  that  it  must  be  pure. 
I  am  not  speaking  now  of  moral  purity,  but  purity  in  busi- 
ness life  and  social  matters.  A  man  came  to  me  the  other 
day  who  lives  in  the  East  End  of  London,  and  who  was 
earning  up  in  this  City  four  pounds  a  week.  He  said,  '  I  am 
forced,  sir — it  is  my  business — to  do  things  which  my  con- 
science tells  me  are  wrong.  I  am  forced  to  make  facsimiles, 
so  called,  which  are  not  facsimiles.  I  have  done  it,  but  it 
is  against  my  conscience,  and  I  have  come  to  tell  you  that  I 
can  do  it  no  longer,  and  that  I  shall  throw  up  my  work.' 
He  did  throw  it  up.  He  threw  up  what  our  working  men 
in  Bethnal  Green  call  '  splendid  pay,'  and  I  say  that  a  man 
like  that  is  an  honour  to  the  City.  It  is  such  men  who  will 
purify  the  morality  of  it.  Do  not  think,  my  friends,  that  I 
am  exaggerating  in  what  I  have  said.  In  every  mission 
instances  occur  of  men  coming  and  saying,  '  I  know  this 
thing  I  am  doing  is  wrong,  but  I  have  got  a  wife  and 
children  to  care  for,  and  I  am  forced  to  do  it.'  Now,  if 
there  is  no  other  Lent  resolve  made  by  those  who  have 
been  attending  these  services,  there  surely  must  be  this  one 
made,  *  I  will  make  it  possible  for  every  man  in  my  employ 
to  be  a  God-fearing  man.' 

A  third  great  essential  of  a  man's  life  is — and  it  is  this 
that  the  Christian  Social  Union  exists  to  demonstrate  and 
enforce — that  it  should  be  lived  in  the  service  of  others. 
One  would  have  thought  that  to  be  an  elementary  truth,  and 
that  there  would  have  been  no  need  for  any  Christian  Social 
Union  to  enforce  it.     But  is  there  no  such  need  ?     Surely, 


WASTED  LIVES  25 

when  we  consider  the  matter — and  I  only  repeat  here 
to-day  a  question  I  have  asked  in  all  the  great  public 
schools  of  England,  and  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge — is  it 
credible  that  God  should  have  given  a  small  minority  of  this 
country  wealth  and  leisure  and  education,  and  yet  that  they 
should  imagine  for  a  moment  that  they  may  spend  it  all  on 
themselves  ?  The  thing  is  altogether  incredible.  '  Where 
is  Abel,  thy  brother?'  is  the  first  question  that  will  meet 
every  one  of  us  before  the  throne  of  God.  '  Where  is  he? 
You  were  one  of  the  minority  ;  you  had  education  and 
leisure,  and  wealth.  But  there  was  a  life  linked  with  yours  ; 
there  was  a  young  brother  put  under  your  charge,  and  it 
was  an  understood  thing  that  those  advantages  were  given 
to  you  in  trust  for  him.  Where  is  he?  If  you  have  spent 
them  on  yourself  alone,  he  must  be  starving;  if  you  have 
used  up  all  the  supplies,  he  must  be  fainting.  Where  is 
Abel  thy  brother?'  We  must  face  this  question  here  and 
now  if  we  are  to  face  it  at  the  last.  We  must  face  it  in 
this  city.  There  is  at  this  moment  a  magnificent  chance 
for  men  of  all  political  creeds.  We  are  not  asking  you  to 
utter  some  party  shibboleth,  but  to  fulfil  an  elementary  law 
of  God.  There  is,  I  say,  a  magnificent  opportunity  at  this 
moment  that  men  of  every  kind,  and  of  every  colour  of 
thought,  can  take  to  fulfil  this  law.  A  colleague  of 
mine,  whom  I  will  not  name,  but  who  is  himself  a  City 
man,  occupies  his  time,  after  a  hard  day's  work  up 
here,  at  places  which  he  has  founded  for  the  benefit 
of  his  brothers  throughout  East  London,  where  they  may 
receive  that  education  and  recreation  of  body  and  mind 
and  spirit,  which  he  in  the  bounty  of  God  received  himself. 
For  what  are  these  great  clubs,  which  might  be  made  of 
such  tremendous  power  in  that  neighbourhood,  languishing  ? 
For  want  of  men  to  come  forward  and  help.  The  working 
men  in  their  committees  are  managing  these  places  well,  but 
they  would  be  the  first,  if  I  called  them  up  here,  to  tell  you 
that  what  they  need  is  men  of  education  to  help  them  in 


26  WASTED  LIVES 

their  classes  and  debates.  While  these  great  places,  within 
a  mile  or  two  from  here,  are  undermanned,  I  can  never 
believe  that  this  elementary  truth  of  the  Gospel  has  really 
penetrated  the  minds  and  hearts  of  City  men. 

Then  again,  during  this  last  fortnight  I  have  been  to 
every  college  in  Oxford.  I  have  there  addressed  at  least 
five  hundred  young  men,  and  I  can  tell  you  that  so  far  as 
they  are  concerned  the  heart  of  young  England  is  sound. 
Where,  then,  is  the  difficulty?  They  are  ready  to  give 
their  lives  to  the  service  of  God  anywhere,  but  whenever 
any  of  them  offer  to  do  so,  their  relations,  as  a  rule,  hold 
up  their  hands  in  horror  at  the  thought  of  them  living  and 
working,  for  instance,  in  East  London.  At  this  moment 
there  are  men  at  Oxford  willing  to  endure  what  discomfort 
there  is  in  living  down  in  Bethnal  Green,  but  they  are 
opposed  by  their  relations.  I  know  that  relations  must 
look  at  all  sides  of  the  case,  and  that  the  father  is  think- 
ing of  his  son's  welfare  in  saying,  '  I  must  not  let  my 
boy,  in  a  moment  of  enthusiasm,  wreck  his  career.'  But 
are  you  parents  so  satisfied  with  your  life  as  you  live  it  ? 
are  you  so  satisfied  that  you  have  lived  a  man's  full  life, 
that  you  will  check  altogether  your  boy  living  a  different 
one  ?  We  must  be  careful  here,  I  know  ;  let  no  hard  word 
hurt  the  feelings  of  an  affectionate  parent  who  may  be  here; 
but  still  I  say,  Refrain  from  checking  altogether  this  impulse 
of  unselfishness  ;  so  far  as  may  be,  let  them  alone,  lest  haply 
you  may  be  found  even  to  fight  against  God. 

Let  us  break,  then,  through  the  crust  of  old  prejudice, 
and  selfishness,  and  class  feeling,  and  fling  ourselves  into 
a  life  of  service  for  God  and  man.  We  do  not  want 
views,  we  want  work.  And  as  men  work  for  God  they 
will  find  their  faith  in  Him  strengthened,  they  will  purify 
themselves  more  and  more  in  their  private  and  public 
life,  even  as  God  is  pure,  and  they  will  ^nd  their  lives. 
It  is  not,  to  quote  again  the  often  quoted  illustration  of 
a  great  preacher,  it  is  not  when  a  ship  is  fretting  her  side 


WASTED  LIVES  27 

against  the  wharf  that  she  has  found  her  true  life,  but  it  is 
when  she  has  cut  the  ropes  which  bind  her  to  the  wharf, 
and  is  out  upon  the  ocean,  with  the  winds  over  her,  and 
the  waters  under  her,  it  is  then  she  knows  the  true  joy  a 
ship  is  made  for,  as  she  plunges  and  ploughs  away  the  sea. 
And  so  it  is  not  when  a  man  is  fretting  his  side  against  the 
wharf  of  his  own  self,  not  when  he  is  saying, '  What  will  people 
think  of  me  ?'  or  '  How  shall  I  get  on  ?'  but  when  he  has  cut 
the  cords  which  bind  him  to  his  old  self,  when  he  is  out  on 
the  ocean  of  loving  work  for  God  and  man,  with  the  winds 
over  him  and  the  waters  under  him,  it  is  then  he  knows  the 
true  joy  a  man  was  made  for  ;  he  has  lost  his  life,  as  the 
world  thinks,  but  in  losing  it  so  he  discovers  he  has 
found  it. 


AM  I  MY  BROTHER'S  KEEPER? 

BY   THE 

VEN.  ARCHDEACON  FARRAR,  D.D. 

WE  hear  much  in  these  days  of  what  is  called 
the  '  higher  criticism  '  —  in  other  words,  of 
the  application  of  critical,  literary,  historic 
methods  to  the  documents  and  the  narra- 
tives of  Scripture.  The  method  and  its  results  are  viewed 
by  many  with  vague  but  unnecessary  alarm.  For  this, 
at  least,  is  certain,  that  no  criticism  can  touch  the  spiritual 
depth,  the  moral  instructiveness,  enshrined  in  the  pages 
of  the  Bible. 

Whether  the  story  of  Cain  and  Abel  be  taken  for  literal 
history,  or  for  profound  allegory,  there  is  not  a  line  of  it 
which  does  not  breathe  such  wisdom  as  we  could  not 
parallel  in  the  books  of  all  the  sages.  In  the  envy  of  Cain ; 
in  God's  revelation  to  him  that  every  righteous  offering  will 
be  accepted,  but  that  the  s  orifice  of  the  wicked  is  abomina- 
tion to  the  Lord ;  in  the  solemn  warning  that  his  peril  lay 
in  the  wild  beast  of  sin  crouching  at  the  door  of  his  heart ; 
in  the  rapidity  with  which  the  smouldering  grudge  broke 
out  into  the  fiery  wrath  of  murder,  we  have  deep  and 
abundant  lessons.  In  the  fact  that  so  headlong  was  man's 
collapse  from  his  original  innocence  that  of  the  first  two 
human  beings  born  into  the  world  the  eldest  grew  up  to  be 
a  murderer,  and  the  younger  to  be  his  murdered  victim,  we 
have  a  terrible  glimpse  into   that   apostasy  of   man's    evil 


AM  I  MY  BROTHER'S  KEEPER?  29 

heart,  of  which  we  see  the  bitter  fruits  in  every  walk  we 
take  in  the  common  streets. 

All  national  history,  all  war,  every  prison,  every  peniten- 
tiary ;  all  riot,  disorder,  and  sedition ;  that  devilish  type  of 
manhood  in  which  every  other  passion  is  merged  into  an 
incarnate  rage  ;  the  deadly  struggles  of  capital  and  labour ; 
anarchy  with  its  victims  shattered  by  dynamite  and  its  cities 
blazing  with  petroleum ;  incendiary  tumults,  the  'red-fool  fury' 
of  revolution,  with  its  carmagnole  and  its  guillotine — -yes,  the 
records  of  crime,  and  brutality,  and  suicide,  and  internecine 
struggle,  which  crowd  our  newspapers  from  day  to  day,  are 
but  awful  comments  on  these  few  verses  of  the  fourth  chapter 
of  Genesis,  and  indications  of  the  consequences  which  follow 
the  neglect  of  their  tremendous  lessons.  All  this,  however, 
I  must  pass  over,  to  fix  your  mind  briefly  on  the  fragment 
of  the  sequel. 

Abel  lay  on  the  green  grass,  and  earth's  innocent 
flowers  shuddered  under  the  dew  of  blood.  '  And  the 
Lord  said  unto  Cain,  "Where  is  Abel  thy  brother?" 
And  he  said,' — for  the  first  murderer  is  also  the  first  liar 
— '"I  know  not"';  and  he  insolently  added — for  the 
first  murderer  is  also  the  first  egotist — '  Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper  ?'  But  the  Lord  sweeps  aside  the  daring  falsehood, 
the  callous  question.  '  And  He  said,  What  hast  thou 
done  ?  The  voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto  Me 
from  the  ground.  And  now  thou  art  cursed.'  And  Cain 
fled  to  the  land  of  his  exile,  with  the  brand  of  heaven's 
wrath  on  his  soul,  and  on  his  brow. 

And  here,  my  friends,  I  leave  the  narrative  to  speak  to 
you  of  its  significance  for  us  all  these  millenniums  after- 
wards. Briefly  it  must  be,  and  very  inadequately.  All 
I  can  do  is  to  impress  a  great  principle ;  to  deepen  in  our 
minds  the  sense  of  a  solemn  duty.  Applications  must  be 
left  to  our  own  consciences  and  to  other  discourses.  Yet 
there  should  be  enough  in  the  considerations  which  I  would 
fain  bring  before  you  to  awaken  our  serious  thoughts.     We 


30  AM  I  MY  BROTHER'S  KEEPER  ? 

each  of  us  ask,  in  words  and  in  our  lives,  'Am  I  my 
brother's  keeper  ?'  God  answers  to  each  of  us,  '  You  are  !' 
The  world,  with  all  its  might,  answers,  '  No !  I  am  not.' 
Vast  multitudes  of  merely  nominal  Christians — all  those 
who  are  content  with  the  dead  Judaism  of  a  decent, 
functional,  and  superficial  religionism — all  the  vast  army 
of  the  compromisers  and  the  conventionalists — while  they 
say,  or  half  say,  with  their  reluctant  hps,  'Yes,  I  am  my 
brother's  keeper,'  yet  act  and. live  in  every  respect  as  if 
they  were  not.  There  is  little  practical  difference  between 
their  conduct  and  that  of  the  godless  world.  Did  not 
Christ  indicate  this  when  He  described  the  two  sons,  of 
whom  the  bold  rebel  said,  *  I  will  not  go  into  the  vineyard ' ; 
and  the  smooth,  respectable  hypocrite  said,  '  I  go,  sir,'  and 
went  not  ?  Alas  !  we  ordinary  Christians  are  a  very  poor 
lot  indeed.     We  have  preached  Christ  for  centuries, 

*  Until  men  almost  learn  to  scoff, 
So  few  seem  any  better  off.' 

And  if  some,  like  the  sneering  lawyer,  interpose  an  excuse, 
and  ask,  '  Who  is  my  brother  ?'  the  answer  is  the  same 
as  that  which  Christ  gave  in  the  parable  of  the  Good  wSama- 
ritan.  All  men  are  our  brethren  ;  all  who  sin,  all  who  suffer, 
all  who  lie  murdered  like  Abel,  sick  and  wounded  Hke  the 
poor  traveller — where  they  have  been  left  by  the  world's 
thieves  and  murderers,  where  they  lie  neglected  by  the 
frosty-hearted  priest  and  the  scrupulously  sacrificing  Tevite 
on  the  hot  and  dusty  wayside  of  the  world. 

Yes,  all  men  are  our  brothers ;  and  when  we  injure  them 
by  lies  which  cut  like  a  sharp  razor,  by  sneers,  by  innuendoes, 
by  intrigues,  by  slander  and  calumny,  by  hatred,  malice,  and 
all  uncharitableness,  by  want  of  thought,  or  by  want  of 
heart,  by  the  lust  of  gain,  by  neglect,  by  absorbing  selfish- 
ness, we  are  inheritors  of  the  spirit  of  the  first  murderer. 

But  let  us  confine  our  thoughts  to  those  who  most  press- 
ingly  need  our  services — to  the  great  masses  of  the  poor. 


AM  I  MY  BROTHER'S  KEEPER?  31 

the  oppressed,  the  wretched,  the  hungry,  the  lost,  the  out- 
cast. I  will  enter  into  no  disquisition  to  account  either  for 
their  existence  or  our  responsibility  for  it.  I  will  only  say 
that  among  them  lies,  in  some  form  or  other,  a  great  sphere 
of  our  duty,  which,  if  we  neglect  for  our  pleasure,  we 
neglect  also  at  our  peril.  I  need  hardly  pause  to  prove 
that  this  is  our  duty  to  our  fellow-men,  and  above  all  to 
our  suffering  fellow-men.  It  is  the  unvarying  lesson  of 
Scripture.  It  is  the  essential  message  of  the  grand  old 
Hebrew  prophets.  It  was  the  frequent  theme  of  Christ. 
It  was  the  repeated  exhortation  of  His  Apostles  and  evan- 
gelists. We  are  constantly  told  by  callous  and  worldly 
persons  what  a  crime  it  is  to  give  to  a  beggar ;  we  are  con- 
stantly lectured  on  our  '  maudlin  sentimentality '  if  we  aid 
the  starving  families  of  men  on  strike.  Even  newspapers 
that  are  supposed  to  be  specially  Christian  have  no  scorn 
too  acrid  for  propositions  dictated  by  a  generous  if  per- 
plexed sympathy  for  which  they  can  find  no  better  terms 
than  'verbal  poultices,'  'sickly  fluidity,'  and  'hysteric  gush.' 
One  sees  how  summarily  Isaiah  and  St.  James  would  have 
been  trampled  into  contempt  by  the  trenchant  criticisms  of 
these  gentlemen. 

Well,  let  us  by  all  means  attend  to  our  political  economy, 
let  us  by  all  means  tame  down  the  splendid  passion  of  the 
prophets,  lest  it  should  seem  socialistic  ;  and  the  generous 
impulse  of  the  philanthropist,  lest  it  should  interfere  with 
the  ratepayer.  But,  in  Heaven's  name,  let  us  not  forget 
that,  when  all  is  said  and  done  by  those  who  rightly  dis- 
courage mere  casual  dole-giving,  the  majestic  claims  of 
charity  are  not  exhausted.  We  have  not  quite  done  our 
duty  to  the  world  of  the  wretched  when  we  have  proved  to 
our  own  satisfaction  that  men  whose  passionate  love  for 
their  fellow-men  has  reclaimed  thousands  of  the  arabs  of 
our  streets,  and  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  lowest  of  the  poor, 
are  contemptible  fanatics.  Is  it,  indeed,  the  case  that  as  we 
loll  in  our  luxurious  armchairs  we  not  only  need  give  nothing 


32 


AM  I  MY  BROTHER'S  KEEPER? 


\ 


to  help  these  efforts,  but  can  even  afford  to  look  down  from 
the  whole  height  of  our  paltry  conventionalism  on  workers 
who  have  more  of  the  love  of  God  and  man  in  their  little 
fingers  than  any  ordinary  thousand  of  us  have  in  our  whole 
loins  ?  I  esteem  far  higher  the  burning  desire  to  help  their 
fellow-men,  the  strenuous  effort  to  carry  that  desire  into 
effect,  which  actuates  men  who  are  the  common  sneer  of 
worldlings  and  of  religious  newspapers,  than  I  estimate  the 
thin  respectability  and  smug  decorum  of  thousands  of  com- 
monplace Churchmen.  These  lovers  of  their  brethren 
have  not  only  criticised  and  sneered — they  have  rescued  the 
perishing,  they  have  cared  for  the  dying,  they  have  healed 
the  broken-hearted,  they  have  wrought  and  fought,  and  toiled 
and  prayed,  and  suffered.  James  Russell  Lowell  was  a  poet, 
a  statesman,  a  man  of  the  world.  You  know  his  poem,  '  A 
Parable '  : 

'  Said  Christ  our  Lord,  "  I  will  go  and  see 
How  the  men,  my  brethren,  believe  in  Me.'" 

The  chief  priests,  and  rulers,  and  kings  welcomed  Him  with 
state  and  with  pompous  services  : 

'  Great  organs  surged  through  arches  dim 
Their  jubilant  floods  in  praise  of  Him  ; 
And  in  church  and  palace,  and  judgment  hall, 
He  saw  His  image  high  over  all. 
But  still,  wherever  His  steps  they  led 
The  Lord  in  sorrow  bent  down  His  head  ; 
And  from  under  the  heavy  foundation-stones 
The  Son  of  Mary  heard  bitter  groans. 
Have  ye  founded  your  thrones  and  altars  then 
On  the  bodies  and  souls  of  living  men  ? 
And  think  ye  that  building  shall  endure, 
Which  shelters  the  noble  and  crushes  the  poor?' 

In   vain   they  pleaded   their  customs   and   their   rehgious 
rites : 

'  Then  Christ  sought  out  an  artisan, 
A  low-browed,  stunted,  haggard  man, 
And  a  motherless  girl  whose  fingers  thin 
Pushed  from  her  faintly  want  and  sin. 


AM  I  MY  BROTHER'S  KEEPER  ?  33 

These  led  He  in  the  midst  of  them, 
And  as  they  drew  back  their  garments'  hem 
For  fear  of  defilement,  "  Lo  !  here,"  said  He, 
"  The  images  ye  have  made  of  Me  !"  ' 

The  lesson  is  full  of  warning.      That  there  is  an   almost 
shoreless    sea   of  misery  around    us,    which    rolls    up    its 
dark  waves  to  our  very  doors  ;  that  thousands  live  and  die 
in  the  dim  border-land  of  destitution  ;  that  litde  children 
wail  and  starve,  and  perish,  and  soak  and  blacken  soul  and 
sense,  in  our  streets  ;  that  there  are  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  the  unemployed,  not  all  of  whom,  as  some  would  per- 
suade us,  are  lazy  impostors  ;  that  the  demon  of  Drink  still 
causes    among   us     daily    horrors    which    would    disgrace 
Dahomey  or  Ashantee,  and  rakes  into  his  coffers  millions  of 
pounds  which  are  wet  with  tears  and  red  with  blood  :  these 
are  facts   patent   to  every  eye.     Now,  God  will  work   no 
miracle  to  mend  these  miseries.     If  we  neglect  them  they 
will  be  left  uncured,  but  He  will  hold  us  responsible  for  the 
neglect.      It  is  vain   for  us  to  ask,   '  Am   I  my  brother's 
keeper  ?'     In  spite  of  all  the  political  economists,  in  spite  of 
all  superfine  theories  of  chilly  and  purse-saving  wisdom,  in 
spite  of  all  the  critics  of  the  irreligious — still   more  of  the 
semi-religious,  and  the  religious  press.  He  will  say  to  the 
callous   and  the  slothful,   with  such  a   glance   '  as    struck 
Gehazi  with  leprosy,  and  Simon  Magus  with  a  curse,'  '  What 
hast  thou  done  ?     Smooth  religionist,  orthodox  Churchman, 
scrupulous  Levite,  befringed  and  bephylacteried  Pharisee, 
thy  brother's  blood  crieth  to  Me  from  the  ground  !'     And 
this  awful  appeal  which  He  is  always  making  to  us  arouses  a 
murmur,  a  hiss,  a  shout  of  reclamation.     The  respectable 
say,  *  Are  we  rich,  we  clever,  we  refined  people,  we  good 
Churchmen,  we  who  thank  God  we  are  not  as  that  fanatic, 
or  that  Dissenter,  are  we  our  brother's  keeper  ?'     And^the 
scornful    Nabobs  say,    '  What  have  we  to    do   with  these 
pariahs,  these    hangers-on    of    the   gin-shops,  these   noisy 
demagogues  ?'     Was  not  St.  James  thinking  of  such  when, 

3 


34  AM  I  MY  BROTHER'S  KEEPER  ? 

writing  to  the  wealthy  and  religious  respectabilities  of  his 
day,  he  sternly  arraigned  their  callous  selfishness  with  the 
charge,   '  Ye  have  despised  the  poor '  ?     There  are  many 
ways  of  asking   the  question   of  Cain.     There  is  that  of 
coarse  ignorance;  of  men  steeped  in  the  greed  and  hardness 
of    gold,    who    say    outright,    with   Tennyson's    '  Northern 
Farmer,'  that  '  the  poor  in  a  lump  is  bad.'     But  it  may 
also   be  asked  in  a  spirit  which  robs  even  charity  of  its 
compassionateness  and  makes  a  gift  more  maddening  and 
more  odious  than  a  blow.     Nor  are  they  excusable  who  dis- 
claim  their  responsibility  to  the  world  of  anguish  in  the   , 
spirit  of  indifferent  despair.     How  many  find  an  excuse  for 
doing  practically  nothing  by  saying,  'What  good  can  we  do? 
Of  what  earthly  use  is  it  ?'     And  then,  perhaps,  they  trium- 
phantly quote  the  words  of  Deuteronomy,  '  The  poor  shall 
never  cease  out  of  the  land.'     Ah,  why  do  they  invariably 
forget  the  words  which  follow  :  '  Therefore  I  command  thee, 
saying,  Thou  shalt  surely  open  thy  hand  unto  thy  brother,  to 
thy  needy,  and  to  thy  poor  in  the  land.     Thou  shalt  surely 
give  him,  and  thine  heart  shall  not  be  grieved  when  thou 
givest  unto  him,  because  that  for  this  thing  the  Lord  thy 
God  shall  bless  thee  in  all  thy  works,  and  in  all  that  thou 
puttest  thine  hand  unto  '  ?     This  despair  of  social  problems 
is  ignoble,  and  is  unchristian.     '  I  know,'  says  Mr.  Ruskin, 
'that  there  are  many  who  think  the  atmosphere  of  misery 
which  wraps  the  lower  orders  of  Europe  more  closely  every 
day  as    natural  a    phenomenon   as  a  hot   summer.      But 
God  forbid !      There   are  ills   which  flesh  is  heir  to,  and 
troubles  to  which  man  is  born;  but  the  troubles  which  he  is 
born  to  are  as  sparks  which  fly  upward,  not  as  flames  burn- 
ing to  the  nethermost  hell.     The  poor  we  must  have  with 
us  always,  and  sorrow  is  inseparable  from  any  hour  of  life ; 
but  we  may  make  their  poverty  such  as  shall  inherit  the 
earth,  and  the  sorrow  such  as  shall  be  hallowed  by  the  hand 
of  the  Comforter  with  everlasting  comfort.     We  can,  if  we 
will  but  shake  off  this  lethargy  and  dreaming  that  is  upon 


AM  I  MY  BROTHER'S  KEEPER  ?  35 

y 

US,  and  take  the  pains  to  think  and  act  like  men.'     Once 

more,  there  is  an  unfaithfulness  which   does  not,   indeed, 

challenge    God    with  the   question,    '  Am   I    my  brother's 

keeper  ?'  but  in  domestic  sloth  acts  as  if  it  were  not.     The 

poets,    with   that   inspired  insight  which  makes  them  the 

deepest  of  moral  teachers,  have    seen   this   most   clearly. 

Coleridge  speaks  of 

*  The  sluggard  Pity's  vision-weaving  tribe 
Who  sigh  for  wretchedness,  yet  shun  the  wretched, 
Nursing  in  some  delicious  solitude 
Their  dainty  loves  and  slothful  sympathies.' 

Wordsworth  sings  that  we  are  living  in  days 

'  When  good  men 
On  every  side  fall  off  we  know  not  how 
To  selfishness,  disguised  in  gentle  names 
Of  peace,  and  quiet,  and  domestic  love.' 

If  it  is  only  the  basest  men  who  are  drowned  and  besotted 
in  their  own  selfish  and  sensual  individualism — the  egdisme 
a  sot — many  even  good  men  and  women  have  need  to  be 
seriously  on  their  guard  against  the  slightly  expanded  selfish- 
ness— the  egdisme  a  plusieurs — which  wholly  absorbs  them 
in  the  interests  of  their  own  children,  and  their  own  families, 
till  it  blinds  their  eyes  to  the  fact  that  they  do  nothing 
else.  There  is  a  serious  danger  to  us  all  lest  our  narrow 
domesticity  should  gradually  enervate  many  of  our  nobler 
instincts  by  teaching  indifference  to  the  public  weal  as  a  sort 
of  languid  virtue.  '  I  live  among  my  own  people.'  Yes ; 
but  God  made  me  also  a  citizen  of  His  kingdom.  '  Life,' 
said  Lacordaire,  '  when  limited  to  itself  borders  closely  upon 
selfishness.  Even  its  very  virtues,  if  they  do  not  seek  to 
extend  themselves  over  a  wider  area,  are  apt  to  succumb  to 
the  narrow  fascination  it  exerts.'  Many  a  man,  in  his  affec- 
tion and  service  to  his  family,  forgets  that  he  belongs  also  to 
the  collective  being  ;  that  he  cannot  without  guilt  sever 
himself  from  the  needs  of  his  parish,  of  his  nation,  of  his 

3—2 


36  AM  I  MY  BROTHER'S  KEEPER  ? 

race,  of  the  poor,  of  the  miserable,  of  the  oppressed.  If 
he  is  to  do  his  duty  in  this  hfe,  he  must  help  them,  he  must 
think  for  them,  he  must  sympathize  with  them,  he  must  give 
to  them.  We  must  not  be  like  the  churlish  Nabal,  saying, 
*  There  be  many  servants  nowadays  that  break  away,  every 
man  from  his  master.  Shall  I  then  take  my  bread  and  my 
wine  and  my  flesh  that  I  have  killed  for  my  shearers,  and 
give  it  unto  men  whom  I  know  not  whence  they  be  ?'  We 
must  not  be  like  Dives,  arrayed  in  purple  and  fine  linen, 
faring  sumptuously  every  day,  while  Lazarus  lies  neglected 
— and,  in  all  but  vain  words,  unpitied — at  our  doors.  The 
old  Epicurean  poet  Lucretius  says  that  'it  is  sweet  when 
the  winds  are  sweeping  the  waters  into  storm,  in  some 
great  sea,  to  watch  the  dread  toiling  of  another  from  the 
shore.'  The  feeling  of  the  Christian  must  be  the  very  op- 
posite to  this.  He  must  man  the  lifeboat.  If  he  be  too 
weak  to  row  he  must  steer ;  if  he  cannot  steer  he  must  help 
to  launch  it ;  if  he  must  leave  even  that  to  stronger  arms, 
then 

*  As  one  who  stands  upon  the  shore, 
And  sees  the  lifeboat  go  to  save, 
And  all  too  weak  to  take  an  oar, 
I  send  a  cheer  across  the  wave.' 

At  the  very  least,  he  must  solace  and  help  and  shelter  and 
supply  the  needs  of  the  poor  shipwrecked  mariners.  The 
meanest  position  of  all  and  the  commonest  is  to  stand  still 
and  do  nothing  but  chatter  and  criticize,  and  say  that  the 
lifeboat  is  a  bad  one  and  not  fit  to  be  used,  or  that  it  is 
being  launched  in  quite  the  wrong  way  and  by  quite  the 
wrong  people.  Worst  and  wickedest  of  all  is  it  to  stand 
still  and  call  those  fools  and  fanatics  who  are  bearing  the 
burden  and  heat  of  the  day.  The  best  men  suffer  with 
those  whom  they  see  suffer.  They  cannot  allay  the  storm, 
yet,  since  the  cry  knocks  against  their  very  hearts,  they 
would  at  least  aid  those  who  are  doing  more  than  themselves 
to  rescue  the  perishing.     They  would  at  least  sympathize 


AM  I  MY  BROTHER'S  KEEPER  ?  37 

and  help,  and,  at  the  lowest,  give.  I  commend  these 
thoughts  to  your  earnest  consideration,  and  having  set  be- 
fore you  the  general  principle  and  the  general  duty,  I  con- 
clude with  a  practical  application.  Of  this  we  may  be  sure, 
that  character,  not  creed,  service,  not  form,  is  the  test,  and 
the  sole  test  which,  alike  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
God  invariably  requires  of  us.  It  is  love  which  is  the  ful- 
filling of  the  law.  It  is  only  by  keeping  the  command- 
ments that  we  can  enter  into  life.  We  may  come  before 
God  in  the  bluest  of  orthodox  fringes  and  the  broadest  of 
Pharisaic  phylacteries,  we  may  belong  to  the  only  right 
organization,  we  may  hold  to  the  only  right  opinions  about 
priests  and  sacraments,  we  alone  may  be  careful  about  keeping 
the  rubrics  with  the  most  scrupulous  accuracy,  but  all  this 
will  be  as  valueless,  nay,  as  hateful,  in  the  sight  of  God,  if 
it  be  unaccompanied  by  charity  and  service,  as  were  the 
mint,  anise,  and  cumin  of  the  arrogant  and  exclusive 
Pharisees  and  priests  who  murdered  the  Christ  for  whom 
they  professed  to  look.  There  is  but  one  test  with  God  of 
orthodoxy,  of  catholicity,  of  membership  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  It  is  given  in  the  last  utterance  of  Revelation 
by  the  beloved  disciple.  It  sweeps  away  with  one  breath 
nine-tenths  of  the  fictions  and  falsities  of  artificial  orthodoxy 
and  fanatical  religionism.  It  is  :  '  He  that  doeth  righteous- 
ness is  righteous,'  and  '  He  that  doeth  righteousness  is  born 
of  God.' 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY. 

BY   THE 

REV.  R.  L.  OTTLEY, 

PRINCIPAL   OF    PUSEY    HOUSE,    OXFORD. 


Atid  he  spake  a  parable  unto  thei7i, 
saying,  The  ground  of  a  certain  rich 
man  brought  forth  plentifully : 

And  he  thought  within  himself 
saying.  What  shall  I  do,  because  I 
have  no  room  where  to  bestotu  my 
fruits  ? 

And  he  said,  7 his  will  I  do :  I 
will  pull  doivn  my  barns,  and  build 
greater  ;  and  there  ivill  I  bestow  all 
my  fruits  and  my  goods. 

A7id  1  will  say  to  my  soul,  Soul, 
thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for 
niany  years ;  take  thine  ease,  eat, 
drink,  and  be  7nerry. 

But  God  said  unto  him,  Thou  fool, 
this  night  tliy  soul  shall  be  required 
of  thee  :  then  whose  shall  those  things 
be,  which  thoti  hast  provided? 

So  is  he  that  layeth  up  treasure 
for  himself  and  is  not  rich  toward 
God. — St.  Luke  xii.  i6-2i. 

THE  passage  before  us  suggests  a  few  general  reflec- 
tions bearing  on  the  subject  of  property. 
I.  It  im  plies  that  the  institution  of  property  \% 
recognised  by  Jesus  Christ ;  is  sanctioned  as  a 
social  arrangement  which  in  principle  is  right.     If  the  pos- 
session of  property  is  an  occasion   of  great  sins,  and  great 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY  39 

negligences,  it  is  clear  that  the  right  use  of  it  demands  con- 
spicuous virtues,  and  is  fruitful  in  social  and  personal  bless- 
ings. Thus  sanctioned  by  our  Lord,  the  rights  of  property 
have  been  made  the  subject  of  Christian  thought  in  every 
age  of  Church  history ;  and  the  time  seems  to  demand  a  re- 
statement of  principles  which  are  really  old,  but  practically 
forgotten.  Before,  then,  we  consider  some  of  the  lessons 
contained  in  our  Lord's  parable,  it  will  be  well  to  state 
clearly  what  Christian  teachers  have  held  as  to  the  ethics  of 
property.  They  generally  appear  to  confine  themselves  to 
ihe  following  points 

1.  There  is  a  distinction  between  the  law  of  Nature  and 
the  law  of  the  State,  or  positive  law.  By  the  law  of  Nature 
all  things  are  common  to  all  men"^  ;  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  a  '  right '  of  personal  possession.  Indeed,  the  very  idea 
of  private  '  right '  can  only  be  developed  in  civil  society ; 
it  must  be  instituted,  regulated,  and  protected  by  the  posi- 
tive law  of  a  community.  In  fact,  it  is  a  creation  of  society, 
of  human  law.  And  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  maintains  that 
in  the  abstract  it  is  possible  for  the  law  of  Nature  to  super- 
sede the  positive  law  of  the  community.  'According  to 
the  natural  order  of  Divine  Providence,'  he  says,  'material 
things  are  ordained  for  the  supply  of  human  necessity.' 
And  therefore,  in  a  case  of  absolute  necessity,  the  law  of 
Nature  justifies  an  invasion  of  the  right  of  property,  which 
by  the  very  fact  of  extreme  necessity  is  '  made  common.' 
For  'the  superfluities  which  belong  to  some  are  by  natural 
right  bound  to  be  given  {debe7itur)  to  the  support  of  the 
poor.'t  It  is  obvious  that  in  a  country  living  under  a  poor 
law,  like  our  own,  the  abstract  possibility  contemplated  by 
St.  Thomas  cannot  be  said  to  exist. 

2.  But  abstract  natural  right  is  limited  and  controlled  by 
positive  law.     For  though,  as  Edmund  Burke  says,  natural 

*  See  references  in  Ashley,  '  Economic  History,'  vol.  i.,  p.  207. 
f  'Summa,'ii.  2ae.  66,  7.   Cf.  Gury,  'Compendium  theol.  moralis^ 
torn,  i.,  p.  413  (Paris,  1868). 


40  THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 

rights  '  exist  in  total  independence  '  of  government,  '  and 
exist  in  much  greater  clearness  and  in  a  much  greater 
degree  of  abstract  perfection ' ;  yet  '  their  abstract  per- 
fection is  their  practical  defect.  By  having  a  right  to 
everything'  men  'want  everything.  Government  is  a  con- 
trivance of  human  wisdom  to  provide  for  human  wants.'"^ 
For  its  own  benefit,  therefore,  human  society  is  obliged  to 
sanction  and  protect  the  institution  of  property.  Thus, 
although  some  early  Christian  teachers  w^ere  inclined  to 
question  the  possibility  of  rights  which  they  traced  to 
human  sin,  yet  later  thinkers  allow  that  property  is  necessary 
both  on  grounds  of  social  expediency  and  of  individual 
moral  discipline.  On  the  one  hand,  property  is  a  necessary 
condition  for  the  development  of  a  country's  resources,  and 
a  necessary  stimulus  to  human  exertion.  The  creation  of 
wealth,  the  supply  of  natural  wants,  the  organization  of  in- 
dustry, the  subdual  of  Nature  to  man's  purposes,  could  not 
go  on  if  rights  of  property  were  abolished.  On  the  other 
hand,  property  is  a  necessary  condition  of  a  man's  personal 
development.  It  is  the  material  on  which  man  as  a  moral 
personality  exerts  his  energies,  and  displays  his  character. 
It  is  '  the  best  means  hitherto  devised  of  stimulating  the 
individual's  energies  in  productive  work.'f  The  responsi- 
bility it  imposes  trains  a  man  in  prudence,  generosity,  self- 
control,  humility,  compassion,  public  spirit,  and  charity. 
Property  brings  him  face  to  face  with  great  moral  duties  ; 
it  opens  the  way  to  high  possibiHties  in  character.  Because 
wealth  and  responsibility  go  together,  '  w^ealth  and  Christ 
may  co-exist.' |  Christianity  has  no  quarrel  with  property 
as  such.  Some  of  the  noblest  characters  in  the  Gospel  are 
men  of  w^ealth — Nicodemus,  Zacchaeus,  Joseph,  the  '  good 
man  and  just.' 

*  'Reflections  on  the  French  Revolution,' p.  70  [ed.  Payne,  Oxf., 
1883]. 

f  Rev.  H.  Rashdall,  'Assize  Sermon,'  Nov,  9,  1893  (St.  Mary's, 
Oxford). 

Z  T.  E.  Brown,  '  Studies  in  Modern  Socialism,'  p.  162. 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY  41 

3.  Property  is  ultimately  subject  to  the  control  of  the 
community — of  the  State.  It  is  acquired  subject  to  the 
protection  of  the  State.  '  It  is  held  in  subordination  to  the 
supreme  claims  of  the  community.'"^  It  is  justifiable  in  so 
far  as  it  is  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  community.  The 
right  to  enjoy  wealth  may  be  legitimately  called  in  question 
by  the  State  when  that  wealth  is  not  serving  a  social  purpose. 
Society,  in  short,  can  exercise  a  claim  to  regulate  the  right  of 
property;  in  extreme  cases,  might  altogether  set  it  aside. t 
And  this  abstract  principle  is  reinforced  by  a  consideration 
of  the  conditions  under  which  property  is  acquired  in  modern 
times.  In  the  highly  complex  conditions  of  modern  industry 
'  wealth,'  it  has  been  justly  said,  '  is  the  product  of  the  whole 
society,  exclusive  of  the  idlers.'l  Without  the  labour  of 
countless  hands,  the  protection  of  the  State,  the  co-operation 
of  innumerable  agencies,  making  possible  manufacture,  ex- 
change, and  output,  no  wealth  could  accumulate  in  the 
hands  of  any  individual.  It  is  thus  obviously  true  that 
property  is,  in  some  sense,  created  by  the  community,  and 
therefore  that  it  not  merely  owes  duties  to  the  community, 
but  is  indefensible  except  on  condition  that  it  renders  service 
to  the  community.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  control  of  the 
State  over  property  has  been  continually  asserted,  and  I  am 
aware  what  far-reaching  consequences  might  be  deduced 
from  the  Christian  principles  stated  above. 

Such,  then,  are  the  broad  principles  on  which  property 
is  recognised  as  a  necessary  institution  by  Christianity.  The 
duty  seems  to  be  laid  upon  us  at  the  present  time  of  reviv- 
ing the  best  traditions  of  the  Church's  moral  teaching ;  by 
bringing  the  duties  of  property  into  the  light  of  God  ;  by 
reminding  men  of  wealth  that  they  are  amenable  to  a  higher 
law  than  that  sanctioned  by  Parliaments  and  enforced  by 
courts  of  justice. 

*  Lilly,  'Right  and  Wrong,'  pp.  182,  183. 

t  For  the  bearing  of  this  position  on  ecclesiastical  property  see  the 
passage  from  Bp.  Butler  (Note  A). 
X  Rashdall,  udi  sup. 


42  THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 

II.  Let  us  now  turn  to  our  Lord's  parable,  and  consider 
what  it  teaches  as  to  the  characteristic  sins  of  the  rich  ;  let 
us  notice  also  the  nature  of  the  judgment  which,  in  a  typical 
case,  overtakes  the  misuse  of  wealth.  This  will  be  the 
subject  of  to-day's  sermon. 

I.  The  first  and  most  obvious  peril  of  the  rich  man  is  the 
sin  of  avarice  :  the  inordinate  desire  of  accumulation.  To 
the  '  rich  fool '  his  property  was  the  one  centre  of  all  his 
thoughts,  hopes,  and  aims.  *  What,'  says  he,  '  shall  I  do  ?' 
(Observe  that  he  uses  the  same  anxious  expression  which, 
in  another  connection,  is  applied  to  eternal  life  :  'What  shall 
I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life  ?'  in  yet  another  case  to  the 
salvation  of  the  soul :  '  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?')  The 
rich  fool  has  no  ideal,  no  aspiration,  no  desire,  no  hope  for 
the  future  beyond  the  mere  pleasure  of  acquisition.  He  is 
engrossed  in  the  thought  of  the  abundance  of  the  things 
which  he  possesses.  This  is  more  than  mere  short-sighted- 
ness. It  is  fatal  misdirection  of  desire  :  it  is  avarice — 
'  covetousness  which  is  idolatry.'  Avarice  means  eagerness 
for  gain  beyond  the  limit  necessary  to  a  man's  station  in 
life  •*  and  it  is  a  sin  against  God  and  against  society  :  a  sin 
against  God,  because  it  implies  the  withholding  of  the  heart 
from  God ;  money  becomes  an  idol,  the  making  of  money 
a  religion ;  for  '  that  is  truly  a  man's  religion,  the  object  of 
which  fills  and  holds  captive  his  soul  and  heart  and  mind — 
in  which  he  trusts  above  all  things,  which  above  all  things 
he  longs  for  and  hopes  for';t  and  a  sin  against  society ^ 
because  wealth  is  a  social  good ;  to  withhold  it  from  doing 
service  to  our  fellowmen  is  a  breach  of  the  eighth  command- 
ment; to  hoard,  conceal,  or  amass  it  beyond  limit  for  private 
ends  is  in  a  sense  to  steal  it. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  characteristic  Christian  principle : 

*  'Summa,'  ii.  2;  Ii8:  i  'Avaritia  peccatum  est  quo  quis  supra 
dehitum  modum  cupit  acquirere  vel  retinere  divitias.' 

+  Dean  Church,  '  Cathedral  and  Univ.  Serm,,'  p.  156.  Cf.  Col.  iii.  5  ; 
Eph.  V.  5. 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY  4'> 

the  importance  of  due  limitation  in  the  acquisition  of  wealth. 
Yet  Aristotle  anticipates  it  to  some  extent  when  he  says 
that  sufficiency  of  wealth,  if  a  good  life  be  held  in  view,  is  not 
unlimited  ;  and  when  he  adds  the  remark  that  the  tendency 
to  limitless  acquisition  is  eagerness  for  life,  but  not  for  good 
life.- 

2.  A  second  peril  of  the  rich  is  selfishness  in  expenditure. 
The  rich  fool  speaks  of  '  my  goods,  my  fruits,  my  barns.' 
In  the  same  way  Nabal,  the  churl  of  David's  time,  says  : 
'  Shall  I  take  my  bread  and  my  water  and  my  flesh  that  I 
have  killed,  and  give  it  unto  men  whom  I  know  not  whence 
they  be?'t  The  man  makes  self  his  centre;  to  him  en- 
largement of  wealth  means  not  larger  liberality  in  distribution, 
but  increased  luxury  in  personal  expenditure.  He  has  that 
perverted  sense  of  the  '  sacredness'  of  property  which  is  not, 
we  may  fear,  very  uncommon.  Property  is  indeed  'sacred': 
but  in  what  sense  ?  It  is  sacred  because  the  use  of  it  is 
subject  to  the  moral  law  of  God,  and  also  because  the 
possessor  of  it  has  a  sacred  right  to  protection  in  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  social  duty.  Property  is  not  sacred  in  the  sense 
that  a  man  may  do  what  he  wills  with  his  own.  The  Gospel, 
as  we  have  seen,  claims  wealth  for  human  society;  demands 
its  use  as  an  instrument  in  the  promotion  of  public  well- 
being.  The  evangelical  law  supersedes  the  requirement  of 
mere  civil  law.  '  He,'  says  Wycliff  in  his  treatise  on  Civil 
Lordship,  'who  in  accordance  with  human  rights  trans- 
gresses in  the  use  of  his  riches  the  boundaries  fixed  by  the 
law  of  the  Lord,  sins  against  the  Lord.'t  Here  we  have 
another  Christian  principle  regulating  the  use  of  wealth;  not 
the  minimum  which  human  law  requires,  but  the  maximum 
which  evangelical  law  directs,  is  to  be  the  measure  of  the 
right  use  of  property. 

*  Aristotle,  '  Politics,'  i.  8,  14 ;  9,  16.  See  F.  W.  Robertson, 
'Sermons,'  second  series,  No.  i,  'Christ's  judgment  respecting  in- 
heritance.' 

t  I  Sam.  XXV.  11. 

+  '  De  civili  dominio,'  lib.  i.  20. 


44  THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 

3.  A  third  peril  of  riches  is  imphed  in  the  words  of  the 
rich  fool  to  himself :  '  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up 
for  many  years ;  take  thine  ease.'  Notice  here  the  fatal 
effect  of  misused  wealth  in  the  paralysing  of  moral  and 
spiritual  effort.  Our  Lord  says  in  another  passage  re- 
corded by  St.  Luke,  '  Woe  unto  you  rich,  for  ye  have 
received  your  consolation.'  Not  on  rich  men  as  such  is 
this  woe  pronounced;  but  on  those  who  yield  to  the  tempta- 
tions of  wealth — who  are  contented  and  at  ease.  Christ 
points  to  the  danger  of  a  growing  insensibility  to  the  claims 
and  appealing  needs  of  others  ;  the  gradual  closing  of  the 
spiritual  eye  to  all  high  objects  of  hope,  love,  and  fear ;  the 
gradual  hardening  of  the  heart  and  conscience.  It  is  re- 
lated of  Mr.  Cobden  that  he  once  observed,  '  When  I  go  to 
church  there  is  one  prayer  which  I  say  with  my  whole  soul  : 
In  all  time  of  our  wealthy  Good  Lord,  deliver  ns'  The  chief 
danger  of  large  possessions  lies  in  their  power  to  Wind, 
harden,  benumb  the  spiritual  faculties.  Material  comfort 
and  luxury  tends  gradually  to  deaden  the  soul ;  to  kill  out  all 
high  aspirations ;  to  form  a  crust  about  us  which  the  calls  to 
social  service  and  helpfulness  cannot  pierce  ;  to  undermine 
entirely  the  sense  of  need  and  moral  misery,  to  which  faith 
in  a  Redeemer  and  Saviour  can  make  appeal.  In  fact,  the 
dangers  of  wealth  are  like  those  of  an  incessant  life  of  busi- 
ness. There  is  a  striking  passage  in  St.  Bernard's  book 
addressed  to  Pope  Eugenius  IIL,  in  which  he  warns  the  Pope 
of  the  peril  of  being  constantly  immersed  in  the  multifarious 
secular  business  which,  in  those  days,  pressed  upon  the 
occupant  of  the  Roman  see.  He  bids  Eugenius  beware 
lest  all  this  mass  of  routine  work  should  lead  him  whither 
he  would  not.  'Ask  you  whither? — to  a  ha?'d  heart.  .  .  . 
And  what  is  a  hard  heart  ?  A  heart  neither  broken  by 
compunction,  nor  softened  by  pity,  nor  moved  by  prayers, 
nor  yielding  to  threats  ;  a  heart  ungrateful  for  benefits  .  .  . 
inhuman  in  dealings  with  men,  presumptuous  towards  God; 
a  heart  forgetful  of  the  past,  negligent  of  present  opportunity, 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY  45 

blind  to  the  future.  ...  In  one  word — that  I  may  sum  up 
all  the  evils  of  this  one  dreadful  evil — a  heart  that  fears  not 
God  nor  regards  man.'"^  And  surely  we  might  add  :  '  So  is 
he  that  layeth  up  treasure  for  himself,  and  is  not  rich 
towards  God.'f 

III.  We  have  considered  briefly  the  dangers  of  wealth 
which  the  parable  sets  before  us.  They  might  be  described 
summarily  in  three  words  :  avarice,  that  makes  an  idol  of 
wealth ;  selfishness,  that  will  not  share  its  good  things  with 
others  ;  sloth,  that  hardens  the  heart  against  the  claims  of 
our  fellow-men.  In  very  various  degrees  these  sins  are  apt 
to  beset  the  rich  ;  and  '  hardly,'  indeed,  '  shall  they  that  have 
riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.'t  But  with  God  are 
possible  the  things  which  are  impossible  with  men.  If  there 
is  any  class  that  needs  more  than  others  to  cultivate  by 
diligent  prayer  for  God's  grace  the  sense  of  dependence,  of 
moral  need,  of  responsibility,  it  is  the  class  to  which  the 
rich  man  of  the  parable  belonged.  Many  there  are  who 
rise  victorious  above  these  perils  and  hindrances  ;  and, 
indeed,  the  very  fact  that  he  is  subject  to  temptations  so 
fierce  gives  the  man  of  wealth  a  claim  on  the  compassion 
and  consideration  of  the  poor.  For  the  Gospel  is  not  one- 
sided. It  preaches  a  brotherhood  of  men,  and  brotherhood 
implies  mutual  obligations.  Our  Lord  traces  to  one  and  the 
same  root  of  covetousness  the  passionate  cry,  '  Speak  to  my 
brother  that  he  divide  the  inheritance  with  me,'§  and  the 
grasping  selfishness  which  says,  '  What  shall  I  do  because  I 
have  no  room  where  to  bestow  my  fruits  ?' 

But  let  us  turn  our  thoughts,  in  conclusion,  to  the  message 
which  comes  to  the  rich  fool  from  God  Himself.  In  terrible 
contrast  to  his  own  words,  '  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  ; 
take  thine  ease,'  there  comes  to   him  the   Word  of  God : 

*  *  De  consideratione,'  lib.  i.  2. 
t  St.  Luke  xii.  21. 
X  St.  Luke  xviii.  24. 
§  St.  Luke  xii.  13. 


46  THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 

^  God  said  unto  him,  Thou  fool,  this  night  they  require  thy 
soul  of  thee.'  There  is  something  very  awful  in  this 
mysterious  expression.  What  is  meant  we  know  not. 
Probably  some  sudden,  swift  catastrophe;  an  uprising  among 
his  servants ;  a  nocturnal  attack  of  robbers  ;  an  outburst  of 
envy  or  disappointed  greed  among  his  underpaid  einployes  ; 
an  act  of  revenge  for  some  private  wrong  done  to  a  poor 
man,  such  as  Dickens  describes  so  dramatically  in  his 
*Tale  of  Two  Cities.'  You  recollect  how  the  Marquis — 
whose  carriage,  as  it  dashed  through  the  streets  of  Paris, 
had  killed  a  poor  workman's  child— arrives  at  his  luxurious 
country  seat,  and  at  night  goes  to  rest  in  a  voluptuous 
chamber,  softly  carpeted  and  curtained,  and  composes  him- 
self to  sleep.  You  may  remember  what  they  find  in  his 
room  on  the  morrow.  The  face  of  the  Marquis  lies  on  the 
pillow  cold  and  still.  '  It  was  like  a  fine  mask  ;  suddenly 
startled,  made  angry,  and  petrified  ;'  and  '  driven  home  into 
the  heart  was  a  knife.'  Some  such  end — so  sudden,  so  fearful, 
so  unprepared — may  have  been  the  death  of  the  rich  fool. 

We  know  that  in  Europe  generally,  not  least  in  England, 
there  are  strange  symptoms  of  social  upheaval  and  disturb- 
ance. Our  highly-developed  civilization  has  to  protect 
itself  against  desperate  men  whom  the  conditions  of  modern 
society  have  maddened.  And  behind  them  the  voice  of 
millions  of  toilers,  hitherto  dumb,  is  rising  louder  in  our 
ears.  What  is  the  root  of  our  present  danger — our  present 
critical  social  state  ?  Largely  the  abuse  of  the  right  of 
property.  The  sufferings  and  wrongs  incident  to  the  in- 
stitution of  property  are  indeed  so  aggravated  that  wild 
remedies  are  proposed ;  the  institution  itself  is  attacked. 
What  wonder  if  men  who  are  miserable  and  embittered,  or 
full  of  passionate  pity  for  the  poor,  cry  aloud  for  the  aboli- 
tion of  that  which  they  hastily  assume  to  be  the  source  of 
all  their  evils  ?  The  most  formidable  symptom,  it  has  been 
said,  of  social  disorder  is  '  the  growth  of  Irreconcilable 
bodies  within  the    mass  of  the  population,  .  .  .  Church 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY  47 

and  State  are  alike  convulsed  by  them ;  but  in  civil  life 
Irreconcilables  are  associations  of  men  who  hold  political 
opinions  as  men  once  held  religious  opinions.  They  cHng 
to  their  creed  with  the  same  intensity  of  belief,  the  same 
immunity  from  doubt,  the  same  confident  expectation  of 
blessedness  to  come  quickly,  which  characterizes  the 
disciples  of  an  infant  faith. '"^  'Wherever,'  says  another 
thoughtful  writer,  '  classes  are  held  apart  by  rivalry  and 
selfishness,  instead  of  drawn  together  by  the  law  of  love  ; 
wherever  there  has  not  been  established  a  kingdom  of 
heaven,  but  only  a  kingdom  of  the  world,  there  exist  the 
forces  of  inevitable  collision.'!  So  in  touching  upon  the 
swift  and  mysterious  fate  of  the  rich  fool,  our  Lord  would 
perhaps  teach  us  to  consider  what  is  the  inevitable  end  of 
any  social  arrangements  which  are  content  to  permanently 
disregard  the  moral  law  of  God.  If  the  institution  of 
private  property  comes  to  mean  in  fact  a  violation  of  God's 
will ;  if  it  fosters  in  a  man  avarice,  heartlessness,  shame- 
less luxury,  and  worldly  ease  that  can  make  him  contented 
and  comfortable  while  thousands  of  his  fellow-creatures 
are  struggling  for  the  bare  necessaries  of  life — it  is 
doomed.  *  It  is  unjust ;  it  cannot  last'  The  social  state 
which  is  based  on  an  iniquity  cannot  stand  ;  it  is  nigh  unto 
vanishing.  The  prophets  warned  the  ancient  world  what  a 
corrupt  society  must  expect — a  society  that  refused  to  be 
reformed.  They  were  laughed  at  by  their  contemporaries ; 
but  we  know  who  were  right,  and  who  were  wrong.  It  was 
not  in  vain  that  they  testified,  '  Woe  to  the  bloody  city ; 
it  is  full  of  lies  and  robbery.'  '  Woe  to  her  that  is  filthy 
and  polluted,  to  the  oppressing  city';  woe,  for  'the  just 
Lord  is  in  the  midst  thereof.'  'Woe  to  them  that  are  at 
ease  in  Zion,  and  trust  in  the  mountain  of  Samaria,  which 
are  named  chief  of  the  nations.'! 

'''-  Maine,  '  Popular  Government,'  p.  25. 
t  Robertson,  'Sermons,'  first  series,  p.  247. 
X  Nah.  iii.  i  ;  Zeph.  iii.  i,  5 ;  Amos  vi.  I. 


48  THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 

Our  hope  for  the  future  Hes,  surely,  in  siding  with  the 
Eternal  Righteousness  which  'spake  by  the  prophets.' 
There  is  one  social  force  which  is  not  always  taken  into 
account,  but  which  produces  effects  of  acknowledged  im- 
portance and  magnitude.  It  is  the  power  of  awakened 
conscience.  Among  many  social  symptoms  that  seem 
threatening  and  disquieting,  there  is  one  that  is  full  of  hope 
and  promise, — I  mean  the  fact  that  there  is  an  evident  de- 
sire on  many  sides  to  bring  our  social  evils  into  the  light  of 
Christ's  Gospel ;  a  desire  to  return  to  first  principles  ;  a 
desire  to  get  God's  will,  in  relation  to  modern  problems, 
done  on  earth  even  as  it  is  done  in  heaven.*  To  contribute 
by  individual  self-sacrifice  and  exertion  to  that  one  and  only 
worthy  end  of  human  endeavours,  is  its  own  reward. 

*  Cf.  Dale,  '  The  Ten  Commandments,'  p.  202. 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY. 

BY    THE 

REV.  R.  L.  OTTLEY. 

n. 

*  And  he  said  unto  them,  Take 
heed,  and  bezuare  of  covetozisness  :  for 
a  mans  life  consisteth  not  in  the 
abimdance  of  the  things  which  he 
possesseth.'' — St,  Luke  xii.  15. 

IN  treating  the  subject  of  property,  we  may  find  it  useful 
to  adopt  a  distinction  made  by  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
between  two  things:  (1)  the  right  of  acquisition; 
(2)  the  right  of  use.  Clearly  these  do  not  stand  upon 
precisely  the  same  ground.  As  to  the  first,  the  right  of  ac- 
quiring personal  property,  we  have  seen  that  it  claims  protec- 
tion from  society  as  being  absolutely  essential  to  the  creation 
of  wealth  and  the  development  of  industry ;  essential  to  the 
training  of  character  and  personality.  The  desire  for  acquisi- 
tion is  an  original  element  in  our  nature  ;  and  human  will 
necessarily  seeks  for  itself  implements.  Accordingly,  Aristotle 
defines  property  as  '  a  collection  of  implements  for  the 
purposes  of  life.'*  The  right  to  acquire  is  a  necessary 
stimulus  to  human  exertion ;  some  nations  are  even  deficient 
in  desire  for  accumulation,  and  consequently  in  industrial 
energy.!  In  our  own  race  the  instinct  of  acquisition  is 
perhaps  inordinately  developed ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to 

*  •  Politics,'  i.  4.  t  Cf.  Robertson,  'Sermons,'  ser.  2,  p.  13. 

4 


50  THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 

say  that  it  is  the  source  in  great  measure  of  our  unhappy 
social  condition  ;  of  the  appalling  contrasts  with  which  we 
are  so  familiar  in  our  great  cities. 

As  to  the  use  of  property,  however,  we  may  notice  that 
there  is  no  question  of  '  rights  '  in  any  narrow  individualistic 
sense.  Christian  teachers  with  one  accord  maintain  that, 
as  regards  use,  a  man  has  no  right  to  look  upon  any  pos- 
sessions as  his  own,  but  only  as  common  to  all,  only  as 
held  in  trust  for  the  general  good,"^  In  other  words,  a  man 
has  no  right  to  do  what  he  likes  with  his  own  ;  he  has  only 
a  right  (which  means  a  recognised  duty)  to  do  what  he 
oti^/i^  with  his  own.  Once  in  the  Gospel  we  find  one  who 
says,  '  May  I  not  do  what  I  will  with  mine  own  ?'  but  a 
moment's  reflection  will  remind  us  that  He  who  so  speaks 
immediately  adds,  '  I  am  good.'  Goodness  alone  can  be 
trusted  to  do  what  it  wills  with  its  own.f 

Here,  then,  we  have  two  divisions  of  our  subject.  We 
may  deal  with  the  ethics,  first,  of  acquisition  ;  secondly,  of 
use. 

I.  We  ask,  then,  what  are  the  principles  that  should  guide 
and  regulate  the  instinct  of  acquisition  ?  And  on  this  point 
the  Gospel  is  perfectly  explicit.     Thus  it  teaches  : 

I.  T/iaf  wealth  is  not  the  true  end  of  man. — '  A  man's  life 
consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  which  he 
possesseth.'J  It  is  the  primary  duty  of  the  rich  to  assert 
this  principle  in  their  own  conduct,  and  to  transmit  it  as  a 
tradition  to  their  heirs  ;  to  live,  act,  and  speak  so  that  the 
getting  of  wealth  should  cease  to  be  regarded  as  the  chief 
end  of  man.  An  American  writer  declares  that  '  the 
greatest  work  which  the  coming  century  has  to  do,  is  to 
build  up  an  aristocracy  of  thought  and  feeling  which  shall 
hold  its  own  against  the  aristocracy  of  mercantilism. '§     We 

*  Thorn.  Aquinas,  '  Summa,'  ii.  2ae,  66,  2. 
+  St.  Matt.  XX.  15. 
X  St.  Luke  xii.  15. 

§  A.  D.  White,  quoted  by  T.  E.  Brown,  *  Studies  in  Modern 
Socialism,'  p.  167. 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 


51 


are  to  discountenance  the  idea  that  money  is  to  be  the 
passport  to  social  eminence.  In  America  the  disastrous 
effects  of  the  purely  mercantile  spirit  are  said  to  be  pain- 
fully apparent.  '  It  has  created,'  says  one  authority,  '  a  class 
of  men  in  whom  all  finer  traits  of  character  are  extinguished  ; 
whose  aspirations  are  dwarfed  ;  whose  sympathies  are  de- 
stroyed ;  men  benumbed  in  conscience,  brutalized  in  feeling, 
whose  right  is  might,  and  who  know  no  law  but  the  law  of 
their  own  audacity.'*  It  is,  in  fact,  the  first  principle  of 
Christianity  that  a  man's  worth  is  to  be  estimated  not  by 
what  he  has,  but  by  what  he  is ;  a  man's  well-being  consists 
— and  here  Christian  teaching  contrasts  sharply  with  some 
phases  of  materialistic  socialism — not  in  the  outward  satis- 
faction of  animal  desires,  but  in  a  certain  inward  character ; 
not  in  acquisition  but  in  distribution  :  '  it  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive.'! 

2 .  The  Gospel  says  that  wealth  must  be  justly  acquired. 
The  money-making  instinct  is  to  be  subjected  to  the  law 
of  righteousness.  So  the  question  arises.  How  do  we  come 
by  our  wealth  ?  It  is  a  question  that  may  well  make  us 
uneasy,  as  we  consider  how  far  removed  from  the  law  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  standard  which  ordinary  mercantile  life 
allows.  Clearly,  then,  the  Gospel  condemns  accumulation 
of  property  by  unrighteous  means.  A  man  is  bound  to  ask 
himself.  How  have  I  become  rich  ?  If  he  has  acquired 
that  which  belongs  to  another  by  false  pretences,  or  without 
giving  fair  equivalent,  he  has  broken  the  eighth  command- 
ment. What  anxious  heart-searchings  this  suggests  !  '  Have 
my  gains  been  won  at  the  expense  of  the  spiritual  and 
bodily  lives  of  others  ?  Have  they  been  wrung  from  the 
toiler  by  unjust  means,  by  payment  of  starvation  wages,  by 
getting  the  utmost  exertion  out  of  him  at  the  minimum 
wage  he  can  be  induced  to  accept,  by  robbing  him  of  all 
opportunity  for  moral  and  spiritual  improvement?     Have 

*  Brown,  op.  cit.,  p.  166. 
f  Acts  XX.  35. 

4—2 


52 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 


I  grown  rich  by  fraud  and  false  pretences,  by  turning  out 
scamped  work  or  inferior  goods,  by  an  unrestricted  passion 
for  purchase  at  impossible  prices  ?  If  I  am  an  owner  of 
house-property,  have  I  exacted  my  rents  regardless  of  the 
sanitary  condition  of  the  tenements  ?  Have  I  taken  advan- 
tage of  laws  which  are  allowed  to  be  a  dead  letter  only  by 
the  apathy  of  public  opinion  ?  Or  am  I  taking  shares  in 
a  company  which  I  perfectly  well  know  makes  its  way  by 
false  representations  and  lying  advertisements,  which  attracts 
by  offering  excessive  dividends,  and  recognises  no  responsi- 
bility for  the  welfare  of  its  emJ>/oyes  ?'  I  need  not  carry 
on  this  line  of  thought,  which  has  already  been  brought  to 
your  attention.  At  least,  such  reflections  may  awaken  our 
conscience  in  this  matter  of  acquisition.  There  are  surely 
not  a  few  who  owe  to  the  community  a  great  act  of  restitu- 
tion^ like  that  of  him  who  said,  '  If  I  have  done  wrong  to 
any  man,  I  restore  him  fourfold.'  A  man  need  not  leave 
his  business  if  he  sees  his  way  to  reforming  the  conduct  of 
it ;  but  two  duties,  on  Christian  principles,  he  certainly 
owes  to  society  :  reformation  for  the  future,  restitution  for 
the  wrongdoing  of  the  past. 

3.  As  to  the  limits  of  acquisition,  the  Gospel  teaches  the 
duty  of  moderation.  Aristotle,  as  I  reminded  you,  had 
already  insisted  on  this  point.  The  man  who  accumulates 
wealth  beyond  what  is  fairly  needed  for  the  maintenance 
of  himself  and  his  family,  and  real  efficiency  in  work,  lies 
under  a  heavy  responsibility  and  is  open  to  great  dangers. 
*  They  that  will  be  rich  fall  into  temptation  and  a  snare, 
and  into  many  foohsh  and  hurtful  lusts  which  drown 
men  in  destruction  and  perdition.'*  wSo  says  the  Apostle, 
and  his  teaching  reminds  us  that  there  lies  before  a  man 
of  property  an  alternative — either  personal  consumption  of 
his  wealth  or  productive  employment  of  it  for  the  general 
social  well-being.  In  the  case  of  the  '  rich  fool '  we  see  a 
man  weighing  these  alternative  schemes,  *  What  shall  I  do  ?' 
*  I  Tim.  vi.  9. 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY  53 

We  have  considered  his  choice  and  its  fatal  issue,  and  we 
may  remember  that  it  is  the  wrong  choice  in  this  matter 
that  leads  to  the  social  consequences  which  seem  to  many 
so  desperate,  which  produces  'Irreconcilables,'  which  suggests 
violent  measures  in  relation  to  property,  forcible  readjust- 
ment of  burdens,  redress  of  intolerable  wrongs,  sweeping 
changes  in  the  very  framework  of  society. 

Here,  then,  are  Christian  principles  as  to  acquisition :  (i) 
wealth  7W^  the  true  end  of  man  ;  (2)  property  to  be  acquired 
justly ;  (3)  to  be  acquired  within  the  limits  of  moderation. 

II.  Passing  now  to  the  ethics  of  tise,  we  are  at  least  free 
from  any  uncertainty  as  to  the  teaching  of  our  Lord.  The 
Christian  stands  in  a  threefold  relation  to  God,  to  his 
neighbour,  to  himself.  He  therefore  owes  duties  in  a  three- 
fold direction,  and  property  is  to  be  used  under  the  restraints 
which  these  relationships  impose.  Wealth  is  to  be  employed 
in  ways  that  are  godly,  righteous,  and  sober.  Let  us  begin 
with  the  last  first. 

I.  In  relation  to  self — in  regard  to  the  personal  use  of 
wealth,  the  Christian  law  teaches  Sobriety,  Temperance.  I 
would  ask  you  to  consider  the  truth  of  a  statement  in  Mr. 
Charles  Booth's  work  on  '  Life  and  Labour  in  London.'  He 
remarks  that  in  the  bright  and  busy  life  of  London  as  we  see 
it  in  crowded  thoroughfares,  'men  come  and  go,  and  are 
divorced  from  the  sense  of  responsibility.'  Consequently, 
'extravagance,  which  is  the  exception  in  the  life  of  each 
individual,  becomes  the  rule.'  We  need  to  remember  this 
significant  warning  against  irresponsible  extravagance  and 
luxury,  with  its  various  evils,  which,  says  a  recent  writer, 
'  nothing  will  remedy  but  an  effe-ctual  attention  to  the  idea  of 
life  as  a  whole,  and  a  consideration  whether  its  best  purposes 
are  being  helped  or  hindered  by  our  arrangements.'^  Here  is 
the  very  heart  of  the  matter  of  personal  expenditure.  '  What 
is  the  purpose  of  my  life,  and  how  will  my  work  be  best 
promoted  ?  What  are  the  virtues  I  most  need  ?  How  far 
*  Bosanquet,  'Civilization  of  Christendom,' p.  290. 


54  THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 

will  my  expenditure  develop  in  me  industry,  self-control, 
independence  of  mind?'  The  answer  to  these  questions 
will  obviously  vary  in  different  cases.  The  '  living  wage '  of 
a  man  will  depend  on  the  nature  of  his  work  ;  on  the  claims 
to  which  he  is  subject.  There  are  in  fact,  as  Professor 
Marshall  has  pointed  out,^  certain  conventional  necessaries 
which  are  required  for  personal  efficiency ;  the  skilled 
labourer  differs  from  the  unskilled  ;  the  professional  man — 
the  brain-worker — differs  from  the  manual  labourer.  His 
necessaries,  strictly  so-called,  are  very  numerous  :  '  the  con- 
sumption of  them  is  production  ;  to  abstain  from  consuming 
them  is  wasteful.'  And  yet,  when  all  is  said  and  done, 
'  more  than  half  of  the  consumption  of  the  upper  classes  of 
society  in  England  is  wholly  unnecessary.'! 

In  relation,  then,  to  personal  expenditure,  we  must 
remember  the  law  of  Sobriety.  The  true  end  of  our  being 
is  harmonious  development  of  our  faculties  as  moral  and 
spiritual  beings.  Wealth  is  to  be  soberly  enjoyed.  *  He,' 
says  Plato,  *  who  knows  the  temperate  life  will  describe  it  as 
in  all  things  gentle,  having  gentle  pains  and  gentle  pleasures 
and  placid  desires,  and  loves  not  insane.'J  We  must  have 
a  just  sense  of  what  self-development  claims,  and  aim  at 
not  exceeding  the  limit  that  true  sobriety  allows. 

2.  Next,  in  relation  to  others,  the  great  rule  for  property 
is  moral  trusteeship.  This  principle  has  been  admirably 
stated  in  Mr.  Lilly's  book  '  Right  and  Wrong  ':  '  The  only 
things  which  a  man  can  in  strictness  call  his  own — and  even 
here  he  is  under  the  law  of  conscience — are  his  spiritual, 
intellectual,  and  physical  faculties.  The  material  object  on 
which  he  exercises  these  faculties  is  subject  to  a  higher 
ownership  than  his ;  to  the  indefeasible  title  of  the  human 
race  represented  to  him  by  the  community  in  which  he  lives. 
Of  the  material  surroundings  which  he  calls  mine^  he  is  but 

*  '  Principles  of  Economics,'  vol.  i.,  chap.  iv. 

f  Ibid.,  p.  124. 

+  'Laws,'  book  v.,  134, 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY  55 

a  usufructuary,  a  trustee.  The  ultimate  and  inalienable 
ownership  of  what  Aristotle  called  "  the  bounty  of  nature  "  is 
in  the  human  race.  Each  country  belongs,  in  the  last  resort, 
to  its  inhabitants  in  general ;  each  country,  with  all  that 
makes  it  a  country — not  merely  its  land,  but  all  that  has 
been  taken  from  the  land  from  time  immemorial,  and  trans- 
formed into  the  various  instruments  of  civilized  life.  .  .  . 
Not  only  the  soil  of  the  country,  but  its  entire  accumulated 
wealth,  natural  and  fabricated,  is,  in  the  last  resort,  the  pro- 
perty of  the  country.'"^  Such  is  the  teaching  of  economic 
science,  and  Christianity  supplements  it  by  the  rule  that  'none  ^j 
of  us  liveth  to  himself.'!  A  man  owes  to  the  community  'I 
the  right  use  of  his  wealth.  The  true  Christian  thought  of 
trusteeship  replaces  the  old  conventional  conception  (derived 
from  Roman  law)  of  irresponsible  '  rights  of  property.' 
It  is  needless  to  remind  you  how  vast  a  field  lies  open 
for  private  enterprise  in  mitigating,  by  wise  outlay  and  well- 
considered  employment  of  capital,  the  terrible  inequalities 
of  our  social  state.  I  need  not  enlarge  on  the  miseries  and 
the  contrasts  which  were  eloquently  described  to  you  last 
week.  I  If  we  try  to  find  the  root  of  the  evils  which  perplex 
us,  we  shall  find  that  St.  Paul  gives  us  a  clue.  '  In  the  last 
days  perilous  times — hard  times  § — shall  come  ;  for  men 
shall  be  lovers  of  their  own  selves,  lovers  of  money.'  The 
source  of  our  troubles  is  forgetfulness  of  the  Christian  law 
of  trusteeship.  Each  man's  conscience  must  be  his  guide 
as  to  the  best  direction  in  which  he  may  render  social 
service.  The  housing  of  the  toiling  poor ;  the  promotion  of 
education  ;  the  founding  of  schools  and  libraries  ;  the  care 
of  the  aged  poor  ;  the  providing  of  recreation  for  the  people  ; 
the  building  of  refuges  and  labour  homes ;  the  formation  of 
companies  to  promote  co-operative  enterprise, — these  are 
some  of  the  fields  in  which  surplus  wealth  might  reap  a 
harvest ;    in   which   restitution    might    be    made    for   past 

*  '  Right  and  Wrong,'  pp.  197,  198.  t  Rom.  xiv.  7. 

+  By  Archdeacon  Fariar.  §  2  Tim.  iii.  I,  Kcapoi  x«X£Tct. 


56  THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 

neglect;  in  which  the  grand  truth  of  trusteeship  might  be 
practically  acknowledged. 

3.  Lastly,  beyond  the  personal  needs  that  must  be  effi- 
ciently met — beyond  the  righteous  claims  of  our  fellow-men 
— there  are  the  claims  of  Almighty  God.  It  was  the  sin  of 
the  rich  fool  that  he  was  not  '  rich  toward  God.'  It  is  true 
that  in  serving  society — in  ministering  to  those  who  in  any 
sense  are  poor  and  in  need — we  are  giving  to  God.  His 
providence  guides  us  to  proper  objects  of  beneficence.  We 
owe  a  primary  duty  to  our  own  kindred,  our  neighbourhood, 
our  employes,  our  servants.  But  there  are  claims  of  God 
independent  of  the  obligations  which,  when  fulfilled  towards 
His  children  and  little  ones,  He  accepts  as  rendered  to  Him- 
self. Property  owes  a  duty  to  Him  as  the  Giver  of  all. 
The  right  of  property  is  derived  from  Him ;  all  that  we  have 
or  enjoy  is  His  gift.  He  is  the  ultimate  lord  of  the  soil.* 
He  gives  power  to  get  wealth.  So  in  relation  to  God  the 
owner  of  property  has  to  bear  in  mind  the  law  of  account- 
ability. You  will  remember  how  vividly  this  truth  is  sug- 
gested by  the  parable  of  the  steward  who  had  wasted  his 
master's  goods,  and  who  endeavoured  by  ingenuity  to  satisfy 
the  just  claims  of  his  lord.  At  least  the  unjust  steward 
recognised  his  accountability,  which  the  rich  fool  did  not ; 
and  we  are  to  learn  from  the  parable  that  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  interests  of  His  kingdom  stand  for  us  men  even  higher 
than  the  good  of  men.  '  Thy  kingdom  come '  stands  before 
'Thy  will  be  done  on  earth.'  Thus  the  claims  of  religion 
rise  into  prominence.  There  are  works  distinctively  religious 
as  well  as  social.  For  example,  the  care  of  the  sick  and 
dying  and  afflicted  is  a  religious  work  (cf.  St.  Matt.  xxv.  35  f.). 
Hospitals,  homes  for  incurables,  etc.,  owe  their  origin  to 
the  Christian  spirit,  and  few  services  are  more  Christ-like 
than  the  founding  of  dispensaries  and  convalescent  homes, 
or  the  endowment  of  parish  nurses  to  visit  and  tend  the  poor 
m  their  own  homes.  Then  there  are  great  and  crying  needs  to 
%  Wycliff,  '  De  dominio  divino,'  i.  8. 


THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY  57 

be  met  in  the  mission-field,  at  home  and  abroad  ;  nay,  great 
deeds  of  restitution  to  barbarous  races,  degraded  by  contact 
with  the  polluting  vices  of  our  civilization.  There  is  urgent 
need  of  churches — great  need  of  endowments  for  spiritual 
purposes,  religious  education,  and  the  like.  It  is  the  great 
danger  of  an  age  of  large  and  widespread  wealth  and  luxury 
that  it  loses  the  sense  of  spiritual  realities.  That  is  why  St. 
Paul"^  charges  the  rich  to  put  their  trust  in  the  //vi77g  God ; 
not  in  the  dead  idol  of  riches,  but  in  the  God  who  is 
eternally  alive,  ever  at  work  in  the  world,  ever  searching  the 
deeds  of  men,  ever  bringing  nearer  the  revelation  of  His 
kingdom.  Happy  those  men  of  wealth  who  are  conspicuous 
in  devotion  to  God  :  like  David,  preparing  for  the  building  of 
the  temple;  like  Zacch^us,  hastening  to  entertain  his  Saviour; 
like  Joseph  and  Nicodemus,  providing  costly  interment  for 
the  sacred  body  of  the  Redeemer.  Surely  of  all  blessings 
that  wealth  can  command,  none,  if  we  judge  aright,  is  com- 
parable to  these. 

We  have  dealt  imperfectly  with  a  very  large  subject.  It 
seems  fitting  in  these  closing  sermons  of  the  series  preached 
in  this  church  to  end  by  suggesting  a  thought  peculiarly 
appropriate  at  this  season.  On  the  eve  of  the  Holy  Week 
let  us  remember  what  is  the  one  fundamental  remedy  for 
our  social  evils — self-sacrifice.  Self-sacrifice  need  not  take 
precisely  the  form  it  took  in  the  first  days  of  the  Church's 
history,  when  '  no  man  said  that  aught  of  the  things  which  he 
possessed  was  his  own,  but  they  had  all  things  common.' 
But  it  should  be  inspired  by  the  same  motive ;  it  should  be 
modelled  after  the  same  pattern,  viz.,  the  self-oblation  of  the 
Saviour  Himself.  What  Frederick  Robertson  says  is  true, 
'  To  the  spirit  of  the  Cross  alone  we  look  as  the  remedy  for 
social  evils.  When  the  people  of  this  country,  especially 
the  rich,  shall  have  been  touched  with  the  spirit  of  the  Cross 
to  a  largeness  of  sacrifice  of  which  they  have  not  dreamed  as 
yet,  there  will  be  an  atonement  between  the  rights  of  labour 
*  I  Tim.  vi.  17. 


58  THE  ETHICS  OF  PROPERTY 

and  the  rights  of  property.'*  The  solution  of  our  problems 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  As  we  look 
around  for  remedies  and  aids  we  shall  find  none  except  in 
Him.  '  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou — Thou  only, 
hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.' 


Note  A.     (See  Sermon  I.) 

Extract  from  a  letter  by  Bishop  Butler,  in  Fitzgerald's 
edition  of  the  '  Analogy,'  Preface,  p.  xciii : 

•  Property  in  general  is,  and  must  be,  regulated  by  the  laws  of  the 
community.  This  in  general  is,  I  say,  allowed  on  all  hands.  If, 
therefore,  there  be  any  sort  of  property  exempt  from  these  regulations, 
or  any  exception  to  the  general  method  of  regulating  it,  such  exception 
must  appear,  either  from  the  light  of  nature  or  from  revelation.  But 
neither  of  these  do,  I  think,  show  any  such  exception  ;  and  therefore 
we  may  with  a  good  conscience  retain  any  possession,  church  lands  or 
tithes,  which  the  laws  of  the  State  we  live  under  give  us  property  in. 
And  there  seems  less  ground  for  scruple  here  in  England  than  in  some 
other  countries  ;  because  our  ecclesiastical  laws  agree  with  our  civil 
ones  in  the  matter.  Under  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  indeed,  God 
Himself  assigned  to  the  priests  and  Levites  tithes  and  other  possessions ; 
and  in  these  possessions  they  had  a  Divine  right,  a  property  quite 
superior  to  all  human  laws,  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil.  But  every 
donation  to  the  Christian  Church  is  a  human  donation,  and  no  more  ; 
and  therefore  cannot  give  a  Divine  right,  but  such  a  right  only  as 
must  be  subject  in  common  with  all  other  property  to  the  regulation  of 
human  laws.  I  would  not  carry  you  into  abstruse  speculation,  but 
think  it  might  be  clearly  shown  that  no  one  can  have  a  right  of  per- 
petuity in  any  land  except  it  be  given  by  God,  as  the  land  of  Canaan 
was  to  Abraham.  There  is  no  other  means  by  which  such  a  kind  of 
property  or  right  can  be  acquired,  and  plain  absurdities  would  follow 
from  the  supposition  of  it.  The  persons,  then,  who  gave  these  lands  to 
the  Church  had  themselves  no  right  of  perpetuity  in  them,  consequently 
could  convey  no  such  right  to  the  Church.  But  all  scruples  concerning 
the  lawfulness  of  laymen  possessing  these  lands  go  upon  supposition 
that  the  Church  has  such  a  right  of  perpetuity  in  them  ;  and  therefore 
all  these  scruples  must  be  groundless,  as  going  upon  a  false  sup- 
position.' 

*  'Sermons,'  series  i.,  p.  261. 


COMMERCIAL  MORALITY.* 

BY    THE 

REV.  J.  CARTER, 

OF    PUSEY    HOUSE,    GENERAL   SEC.    C.S.U. 
I. 

'  Wherefore  putting  aivay  lyinz, 
speak  every  man  truth  with  his 
neighbour  :  for  ive  are  members  one 
of  another.' — Ephesians  iv.  25. 

WHY  speak  of  '  commercial  morality  '  ?  Surely 
for  the  Christian  there  is  but  one  moral 
standard,  even  our  Lord's  command,  '  Be 
ye  perfect'  It  recognises  no  exceptions,  it 
is  meant  to  control  every  department  of  social  life.  Why^ 
then,  not  leave  professional  men  to  apply  their  Christian 
principles  for  themselves  ?  For  two  reasons  chiefly.  Firstly, 
because  a  good  many  *  practical '  men  have  assumed  that 
Christian  principles  have  nothing  to  do  with  '  business,'  and 
that  commerce  is  mechanically  regulated  by  its  own  peculiar 
'laws.'  Thus  prices  are  fixed  by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand. 
When  buyer  and  seller  transact  business,  they  enter  into  a 
'free  contract,'  the  terms  of  which  are  settled  by  the  hig- 
gling of  the  market.  And  to  obviate  any  further  doubt  in  the 
matter,  you  may  appeal  to  the  principle  of  caveat  emptor  !  If 
people  are  fools  enough  to  pay  for  articles  of  fashion  a  hundred 
per  cent,  more  than  they  are  worth,  or  if  they  allow  themselves 

*  Of  the    two   following   sermons  neither  was  written    out   before 
delivery,  and  both  are  given  here  in  a  much  shortened  form. 


6o  COMMERCIAL  MORALITY 

to  be  deceived  by  shoddy  or  adulterated  goods,  you  have  a 
'  right '  to  make  a  profit  out  of  their  fooHshness.  Such  a 
view  of  business  may  be  condemned  absolutely.  It  finds  no 
sort  of  reasonable  justification  either  in  political  economy  or 
in  physical  science,  and  obviously  it  cannot  be  maintained 
by  a  true  Christian.  And,  secondly,  because  many  professed 
Christians  are  tempted  to  great  moral  laxity  in  regard  to 
their  business  conduct.  While  hating  some  of  these  '  laws  ' 
and  trade  customs,  they  have  more  or  less  conformed  to 
them  under  the  increasing  stress  of  competition.  It  is  to 
this  class  especially  that  the  Christian  preacher  can  make 
his  appeal.  He  is  not  called  upon  to  be  the  keeper  of  other 
men's  consciences,  nor  to  relieve  practical  men  of  any  part 
of  their  personal  responsibility.  His  main  duty  is  simply  to 
put  pressure  on  the  Christian  conscience  of  practical  men, 
to  stimulate  its  more  vigorous  action,  and  to  claim  a  fuller 
realization  of  fundamental  principles  which  are  the  common 
property  of  all  true  believers.  Therefore,  all  I  can  with 
authority  demand  from  you  is  a  renewal  of  your  faith  and 
confidence  in  those  elementary  principles  of  Christian 
morality  which  we  learned  in  the  homely  words  of  the 
Church  Catechism  about  our  duty  to  our  neighbour.  And  if 
beyond  this  I  venture  to  make  any  practical  suggestions, 
they  must  be  judged  by  you  on  their  merits. 

It  will  be  convenient  to  divide  the  subject  into  two  parts  : 
(i.)  The  actual  conditions  before  us.  (ii.)  The  remedies  to 
be  proposed. 

(i.)  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  prevailing  methods 
of  business  are  utterly  deplorable  from  the  moral  point  of 
view.  Some  time  ago  the  Oxford  branch  of  the  Christian 
Social  Union  sent  out  a  number  of  questions  on  '  Commer- 
cial Morality'  to  practical  men,  and  the  answers  received 
go  far  to  justify  the  deliberate  opinion  of  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer  on  this  subject : 

'  It  has  been  said  that  the  law  of  the  animal  creation  is  : 
"  Eat  and  be  eaten  " ;  and  of  our  trading  community  it  may 


COMMERCIAL  MORALITY  6i 

be  similarly  said  that  its  law  is,  "  Cheat  and  be  cheated."  A 
system  of  keen  competition,  carried  on,  as  it  is,  without 
adequate  moral  restraint,  is  very  much  a  system  of  com- 
mercial cannibalism.  Its  alternatives  are,  "Use  the  same 
weapons  as  your  antagonist,  or  be  conquered  and  de- 
voured." '"^ 

Let  me  quote  a  few  of  the  rephes  to  the  question,  '  Do 
you  find  it  difficult  to  apply  the  principles  of  Christian 
truth  and  justice  to  the  conduct  of  business  ?' 

Two  employers  write : 

'  Business  is  based  on  the  gladiatorial  theory  of  existence. 
If  Christian  truth  and  justice  is  not  consistent  with  this, 
business  is  in  a  bad  case.     So  is  nature.' 

'  You  take  it  evidently  for  granted  that  such  things  are 
unjustifiable  from  the  moral  standpoint,  so  that,  of  course, 
the  only  excuses  one  can  make  are  that  everyone  does  it, 
and  that  one  must  live.  In  my  own  business  I  have  not 
much  trouble  of  this  kind,  and  what  I  have  I  generally 
weakly  give  in  to.'  And  then,  in  regard  to  a  particular  piece 
of  roguery  sometimes  practised,  he  remarks,  '  I  have  never 
done  this  with  my  own  hand,  though  my  clerk  does  it.  I 
do  not  like  it,  and  hardly  know  what  I  should  do  if  asked 
to  do  it  myself!  As  it  is,  I  leave  it  to  their  own  consciences, 
feeling  I  must  live  somehow,  and  knowing  I  cannot  afford 
to  lose  a  good  customer.' 

And  a  commercial  traveller  and  a  draper's  assistant 
reply  as  follows  : 

'  Not  only  difficult,  but  impossible.  For  a  man  is  not 
master  of  himself.  If  one  would  live,  and  avoid  the  bank- 
ruptcy court,  one  must  do  business  on  the  same  lines  as 
others  do,  without  troubling  whether  the  methods  are  in 
harmony  with  the  principles  of  Christian  truth  and  justice 
or  not.' 

'  Extremely    so.      The    tendency  to    misrepresent,    de- 
ceive,  or  take  unfair  advantage  under  circumstances  that 
*  'The  Morals  of  Trade.' 


62  COMMERCIAL  MORALITY 

daily  offer  the  opportunity  of  so  doing,  is  generally  too 
strong  to  resist  where  self-interest  is  the  motive  power  of 
action,  the  conventional  morality  the  only  check.  To  me 
they  appear  to  be  opposing  principles — the  first  of  self- 
sacrifice,  the  second  of  self-interest.' 

Of  course  there  are  well-established  firms  who  can  afford 
to  lose  business  rather  than  use  dishonest  methods  ;  but, 
from  all  accounts,  it  is  evident  that  honourable  trade  is  very 
considerably  hampered  by  unjust  competition. 

'  If  it  were  possible,'  one  writes,  '  to  do  away  with  compe- 
tition, the  excuse  and  justification  for  a  large  proportion  of 
commercial  immorality  would  be  gone.  There  would  then 
be  a  chance  for  a  man  to  trade  honestly  with  a  reasonable 
prospect  of  success.  I  believe  there  are  thousands  of 
Christian  business  men  who  would  be  glad  of  this  chance. 
They  would  then  have  a  free  hand,  unhampered  by  the 
system  of  unjust,  not  to  say  dishonest,  competition.'"^ 

(ii.)  What,  then,  is  to  be  done  ?  We  know  from  history 
the  method  of  Christianity  in  dealing  with  existing  institu- 
tions and  customs,  e.g.,  slavery.  It  first  makes  them,  at 
least,  tolerable,  and  then  proceeds  either  to  transform  or  to 
abolish  them.  So,  now,  in  regard  to  the  prevaiHng  system 
of  trade  competition,  it  would  at  once  assume  a  quite 
different  complexion  if  only  there  were  a  more  general 
recognition  of  the  simple  duty  of  truthfulness.  And  surely 
this  much  may  be  claimed  dogmatically  !  The  Christian 
appeal  is,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the  individual  man  of 
business,  and  it  says.  Be  honest  yourself  f  Is  this  too  heroic? 
Is  it  too  much  to  expect  that  the  merchant  should  be  as 
chivalrous  as  the  soldier?  Certainly  it  will  cost  a  man 
something  to  be  a  Christian,  for  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  days  of  martyrdom  are  wholly  past  and  gone.  How- 
ever, 'it  is  required  in  stewards,  that  a  man  be  found  faithful.'! 

*  A  large  number  of  the  replies  received  from  business  men  to  the 
above  questions  have  been  published  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  '  Com- 
mercial Morality'  (Rivington,  Percival  and  Co.). 

f  I  Cor.  iv.  2. 


COMMERCIAL  MORALITY  63 

To  illustrate  my  meaning,  I  may  mention  three  details, 
three  practices  which  appear  to  be  absolutely  wrong,  the 
removal  of  which  would  mean  an  enormous  change  in 
commercial  life  :  (i)  Adulteration  of  goods  which  cannot 
reasonably  be  expected  to  be  known  to  the  buyer.  (2)  False 
or  misleading  statements  as  to  the  quality  or  history  of  goods. 
(3)  Commissions  to  employes  (as  distinct  from  fees  to  com- 
mission agents  or  brokers)  when  given  as  bribes  for  breaches 
of  trust.  It  would  be  easy  to  give  definite  instances  of  all 
these  immoral  methods  of  transacting  business,  but,  as 
practical  men,  you  will  be  able  to  supply  these  facts  for 
yourselves. 

In  the  next  place,  I  would  urge  organization  for  mutual 
suppo7't.  If  we  could  discover  the  standard  which  the  best 
business  men  set  before  themselves,  and  form  a  strong 
association  for  its  maintenance,  much  might  be  accom- 
plished towards  the  eUmination  of  unjust  and  dishonour- 
able competition.  Something  has  already  been  done  in  this 
direction  by  the  Chambers  of  Commerce,  but  there  is  need 
of  an  educated  and  vigorous  Christian  public  opinion  over 
a  wider  area.  Perhaps  I  may  add  that  one  practical  result 
of  some  private  conferences  recently  held  between  members 
of  the  Christian  Social  Union  and  some  prominent  business 
men  will  probably  be  the  formation  of  a  '  Fair  -  dealing 
League,'  and  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  from  anyone  who 
would  be  willing  to  help  in  such  work. 

So,  then,  I  have  nothing  new  to  offer,  no  '  Morrison's 
pill '  to  obviate  all  further  business  anxieties,  but  simply  the 
old  Christian  warning,  'Putting  away  lying,  speak  every 
man  truth  with  his  neighbour.'  Oh,  the  shame  of  it !  That 
it  should  be  necessary  in  London  to  urge  this  as  a  fitting 
lesson  for  Lent.  Why  all  this  chicanery  ?  Are  we  becoming 
poorer?  Is  nature  more  niggardly?  Is  God  less  bountiful? 
People  prate  about  the  decline  of  agriculture ;  the  ruin  of 
our  foreign  trade  ;  the  depreciation  of  silver ;  the  lack  of  em- 
ployment for  willing  workers,  and  the  hard  times  generally. 


64  COMMERCIAL  MORALITY 

But  what  are  the  facts?  Distress  there  is  certainly — ter- 
rible, shameful  distress  in  various  parts  of  society — but 
it  is  mainly  due,  as  I  believe,  to  our  mismanagement  of 
God's  bounty,  our  wastefulness,  our  abominable  selfishness. 
The  wealth  of  England  has  been  increasing  at  a  much 
greater  rate  than  the  population ;  and  at  the  present  time  we 
are  far  more  competent  to  support  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  existence  than  at  any  previous  period  in  the  history 
of  the  country. 

Surely,  then,  we  can  afford  to  try  some  experiments.  And 
all  I  ask  now  is,  that  we  should  try  the  experiment  of 
honesty.  Truth-telling  has  been  a  characteristic  of  the  Eng- 
lish race,  and  the  splendid  fabric  of  England's  commercial 
and  industrial  supremacy  is  still  a  proof  that  in  the  long- 
run  '  Honesty  is  the  best  policy.'  But  now  we  are  more 
than  ever  tempted  to  fall  away  from  the  high  standard  of 
business  integrity ;  and  the  pressure  that  is  upon  us  is  not 
so  much  the  pressure  of  foreign  competition  as  of  that 
nearer  home.  What  we  have  to  fear  most  is  the  reckless 
competition  of  English  capital,  English  brains  and  English 
brawn,  especially  when  uncontrolled  by  any  moral  prin- 
ciples. And  if  only  this  trade  competition  could  be  re- 
strained within  something  like  reasonable  limits,  if  only 
the  game  could  be  played  fairly  with  some  regard  for  simple 
truth  and  common  honesty,  the  existing  system  would  ap- 
pear much  more  tolerable.  If  only  we  could  dare  to  be 
honest,  it  would  bring  steadiness  to  trade,  it  would  take  the 
keen  edge  off  this  frantic  struggle  for  wealth,  and  it  would 
tend  to  make  us  more  like  what  I  pray  God  we  all  would 
wish  to  be — true  men  and  loyal  brothers  in  Jesus  Christ. 


COMMERCIAL  MORALITY. 

BY   THE 

REV.  J.  CARTER. 

II. 

'  Therefore  all  things  whatsoever 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you, 
do  ye  even  so  to  them' — Matthew 
vii.  12. 

I  WAS  speaking  yesterday  of  the  claims  of  honesty ; 
to-day  I  have  to  deal  with  the  claims  of  brotherhood. 
It  is  my  duty  to  endeavour  to  emphasize  the  great 
fact  that  Christian  morality  can   never  be  satisfied 
with  merely  preventing  the  most  obvious  forms  of  deceit  and 
dishonesty,  but  must  go  on  to  fulfil  the  whole  law  of  Christ. 
What,  then,  is  the  work  that  lies  before  us  ? 

First  of  all,  I  will  mention,  as  briefly  as  possible,  the 
Christian  method  of  trade  and  commerce ;  secondly,  I  will 
offer  a  few  practical  suggestions  for  your  consideration  and 
judgment ;  and,  thirdly,  I  should  like  to  say  a  few  words  by 
way  of  encouragement. 

I.  What  is  the  Christian  method  of  business  ?  The  main 
object  that  we  have  to  set  before  us  is  to  substitute  the 
principle  of  co-operation  for  that  of  competition,  or  the 
principle  of  socialism  for  that  of  individualism.  You  will 
please  observe  that  I  am  speaking  of  principles,  I  am  not 
now  concerned  with  this  or  that  system.  The  principle  of 
individualism  is  wholly  unchristian  and  utterly  discredited; 
it  is  unchristian  in  that  it  appeals  to  self-interest,  and  it  is 

5 


66  COMMERCIAL  MORALITY 

discredited  because  it  is  based  upon  two  absurd  fallacies. 
It  assumes  that  every  man  knows  what  is  for  his  own  true 
interest  and  will  follow  it ;  and  again,  that  out  of  the  clashing  of 
private  interests  the  common  welfare  will  result.  Both  these 
assumptions  are  disproved  by  an  appeal  to  history.  We  have, 
therefore,  nothing  left  but  the  moral  principle  of  co-opera- 
tion, which  is  at  the  root  of  all  that  is  good  in  socialism,  and 
which  bids  us  take  as  our  common  aim  the  fulfilment  of 
brotherly  service. 

For  instance,  let  us  consider  from  this  point  of  view  the 
relation  between  buyer  and  seller.  They  have  no  right 
whatsoever  to  try  to  overreach  one  another.  On  the  con- 
trary, if  they  are  two  Christian  men,  they  should  bring  in 
the  principle  of  reciprocity,  and  their  positions  should  be 
interchangeable.  The  seller  should  not  ask  a  higher  price 
for  an  article  he  wishes  to  sell  than  what  he,  knowing  the 
circumstances,  would  give  if  he  were  in  the  buyer's  position. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  buyer  should  not  endeavour  to  beat 
down  the  price  which  the  seller  asks,  by  taking  any  unfair 
advantage  over  him.  The  transaction  should  not  be  a 
'  bargain  '  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  a  loss  to  one  of  the 
parties  concerned,  but  rather  a  fair  exchange  of  mutual 
benefit. 

II.  How  are  we  to  set  about  realizing  our  ideal  ? 
In  trying  to  explain  how  this  may  be  done,  let  me 
speak,  first,  of  the  duty  of  the  purchaser ;  next,  of  the 
duty  of  the  seller;  and,  thirdly,  of  the  duty  of  society. 
{a)  What  is  the  duty  of  the  purchaser  ?  Here  we  touch  a 
question  which  concerns  everybody.  The  more  one  looks 
into  the  present  industrial  conditions,  the  more  one  realizes 
the  tremendous  responsibility  that  lies  upon  the  ordinary 
consumer.  We  find  that  the  general  public  are  more  or 
less  devoured  by  a  passion  for  cheapness.  We  must  insist, 
therefore,  upon  the  duty  of  every  individual  not  to  be 
satisfied  by  merely  paying  a  price  which  those  who  sell  an 
article  are  willing  to  take.     The  purchaser  should,  if  possible, 


COMMERCIAL  MORALITY  67 

go  behind  that,  and  discover  the  conditions  under  which 
wares  offered  for  sale  have  been  produced. 

Here  we  are  met  with  two  objections.  The  first  is, 
How  can  I  afford  to  do  this  ?  After  a  lecture  in  Bethnal 
Green  some  time  ago  on  this  subject,  a  man  stood  up  and 
asked,  '  How  can  I  afford  to  do  what  you  say  ?  I  must  go  to 
the  cheapest  place  I  can  find.'  'If  you  are  a  Christian 
man,'  was  the  reply,  '  and  the  shirts  you  have  on  your  back 
mean  the  misery  and  degradation  of  your  sisters,  you 
should  sooner  go  without  than  wear  them !'  And  he 
could  understand  the  principle  when  it  was  explained  to 
him,  for  he  had  just  been  on  strike.  He  had  dared  to 
subject  his  wife  and  children  to  the  risk  of  starvation. 
Why  did  he  not  rather  take  a  lower  wage  ?  For  the  sake 
of  his  family,  of  his  class,  and  of  generations  to  come  he  was 
wiUing  to  jeopardize  his  own  life  and  the  welfare  of  his 
family.  And  he  was  right,  and  he  must  be  prepared  to  do 
the  same  thing  again  should  similar  circumstances  arise. 

The  second  objection  is  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  infor- 
mation about  trade  conditions.  But  if  we  can  induce  a 
sufficient  number  of  the  general  public  to  have  a  con- 
science on  the  subject,  and  to  be  wilHng  to  act  up  to 
their  conscience,  then  I  am  quite  sure  that  practical  men 
will  be  only  too  ready  to  supply  adequate  information.  We 
have  had  some  little  experience  of  this  in  Oxford,  where 
such  information  has  been  provided  in  response  to  a  demand 
for  the  facts.  Moreover,  these  remarks  apply  to  that  large 
class  of  people  who  receive  interest  for  capital  invested  in 
some  particular  company  or  business,  and  who  are  to  some 
extent  responsible  for  the  conditions  under  which  it  is 
carried  on.  It  has  been  said  in  some  quarters  that  this 
would  put  a  very  serious  and  grievous  burden  upon  the 
Christian  conscience.  But  as  shareholders  do  not  find  it 
difficult  to  give  attention  to  their  dividends  in  the  case  of 
fraud  or  mismanagement,  so  they  should  consider  also  the 
conditions  of  the  company's  employes,  whence  their  profit 

5—2 


68  COMMERCIAL  MORALITY 

is  derived.  For  instance,  a  few  weeks  ago  I  had  a  letter 
from  a  shareholder  in  a  certain  railway  company,  asking  if 
he  should  give  up  his  shares,  because  the  company  was  treat- 
ing its  employes  in  a  way  he  could  not  justify.  The 
answer  in  this  case  was,  of  course,  '  No ;  your  responsi- 
bility is  limited  ;  you  are  only  responsible  for  your  vote 
and  influence.  Stay  where  you  are,  and,  when  the  oppor- 
tunity occurs,  use  your  vote  and  influence  for  securing 
better  terms  for  the  workmen.' 

{b)  What  is  the  duty  of  the  seller  ?  Here  again  time  will 
only  allow  me  to  deal  with  two  or  three  salient  points,  which 
I  will  endeavour  to  define  by  way  of  negatives.  For 
example,  there  are  three  sins  against  the  law  of  brother- 
hood which  are  not  uncommonly  committed  by  business 
men.  It  seems  impossible  to  justify  a  merchant  in  selling  at 
absolutely  less  than  cost  price  in  order  to  injure  his  com- 
petitors, excepting  only  in  a  few  special  cases  in  which  this 
practice  may  be  legitimate,  as,  for  instance,  when  there  is 
some  great  fluctuation  in  the  market,  or  when  the  seller  is 
compelled  to  do  so  in  self-defence  by  unjust  competition. 
Again,  it  is  hardly  moral  for  either  a  trading  company  or  an 
individual  capitalist  already  established  in  trade  to  undersell 
competitors  with  an  idea  in  the  long-run  of  getting  a 
monopoly,  and  then  raising  prices.  Further,  there  is  that 
large  field  of  speculation  in  '  futures '  and  '  options,'  which 
seems  to  me  to  be  nothing  short  of  gambling  of  the  worst 
kind.  In  fact,  the  results  of  this  system  are  so  disastrous 
that  an  '  Anti-option  Bill '  has  been  proposed  in  America, 
simply  to  make  it  illegal  for  a  man  to  sell  what  he  has  not 
got.  All  this  artificial  buying  and  selling  of  things  which 
do  not  exist  is  bound  in  the  long-run  to  oppress  the  real 
producer,  and  really  means  robbing  other  people  of  their 
property.* 

{c)  What  is  the  duty  of  society  ?  First  of  all,  we  have  to 
conceive  the  idea  which  mediaeval  Churchmen  expressed  in 

*  Cf.  'Commercial  Gambling,'  by  C.  W.  Smith. 


COMMERCIAL  MORALITY  69 

the  term,  j'ushim  pretium.  Goods  offered  for  sale  should  be 
sold  at  a  fair  price ;  and  this  implies  an  adequate  wage  for 
the  producer  which  will  provide  him  with  the  means  of  living 
a  decent  life  both  morally  and  materially.  Then  we  have  to 
consider  how  far  it  is  possible  to  maintain,  or  even  to  raise 
our  standards,  through  the  power  of  association  for  a  common 
end.  It  is  true,  comparing  modern  with  mediaeval  con- 
ditions, that  our  theory  of  value  is  much  more  subjective 
than  was  theirs,  and  that  the  various  grades  of  society  were 
much  more  clearly  defined  in  the  Middle  Ages  than  now. 
But  at  least  we  can  keep  before  our  minds  the  great  principle 
that  under  given  conditions  every  article  has  a  fair  and  just 
price.  This  principle  is  by  no  means  an  innovation  ;  it  has 
been  struggling  for  recognition  all  along.  And  we  can  mark 
our  advance  in  this  direction  by  observing,  as  we  travel  east- 
wards, that  business  is  more  and  more  settled  by  the  mere 
'higgling  of  the  market.'  Moreover,  we  have  in  England 
taken  a  notable  step  towards  the  determination  of  price 
during  the  last  few  months.  The  recent  crisis  in  the  coal 
trade  has  brought  prominently  forward  the  need  of  some 
Hmit  to  the  practice  of  '  cutting '  rates,  which  has  found 
expression  in  the  popular  phrase,  '  a  living  wage.'  The 
phrase  is  ambiguous,  and  is  obviously  open  to  abuse ;  it 
would  perhaps  be  better  to  speak  of  'a  standard  wage,' 
which  may  be  raised,  and  which  possibly  may  have  to  fall. 
But  at  all  events  we  require  some  standard  to  act  as  a  barrier 
against  unregulated  and  unscrupulous  competition.  And  to 
secure  this,  and  to  maintain  fair  and  honourable  conditions 
of  trade,  it  is  evident  that  we  cannot  trust  to  individual 
employers,  or  to  individual  workmen,  or  to  this  or  that  class 
by  itself  What  we  want  is  a  strong  and  well-disciplined 
organization  of  the  masters,  and  an  equally  strict  and  com- 
prehensive organization  of  the  men  ;  we  want  to  see  these 
rival  associations  uniting  together  on  a  board  of  concihation, 
made  up  of  an  equal  number  of  members  from  either  side, 
for  the  purpose  of     satisfactory  settlement  of  trade  disputes. 


70  COMMERCIAL  MORALITY 

If  this  is  not  sufficient  at  a  crisis,  we  must  have  some  super- 
vision or  control  on  the  part  of  the  State  as  representing  the 
whole  community,  or  the  active  influence  of  an  organization 
of  consumers  resolute  to  support  the  best  of  the  masters  and 
of  the  men  in  securing  just  conditions.  If  we  do  not  get  this 
organization  in  a  rational  and  Christian  way,  it  will  come 
in  an  irrational  and  unchristian  way.  We  have  only  to 
look  across  the  Atlantic,  where  individualism  has  had  free 
play,  to  see  how  the  commerce  of  that  great  country  is  con- 
trolled by  gigantic  combinations  owned  by  a  very  small 
section  of  the  community ;  which  state  of  things  a  good 
many  men  in  America  feel  is  wholly  against  the  best  interests 
of  the  country. 

III.  I  have  been  forced  to  speak  very  rapidly,  so  that  I 
might  at  least  touch  upon  a  few  of  the  main  points,  all  of 
which  bristle  with  difficulties.  But  I  fully  realize  how 
complex  these  problems  are,  and  how  exceeding  slow  our 
progress  will  be.  Therefore,  it  may  be  as  well  for  me  to 
speak  a  word  of  encouragement  by  reminding  you  of  the 
fact  that  I  am  not  making  an  appeal  which  has  never 
been  made  to  Christian  men  before,  nor  asking  the  Church 
to  do  what  the  Church  has  not  done  again  and  again. 
For  instance,  in  Italy,  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century, 
a  great  development  of  trade  was  going  on,  and  in  order 
to  explain  the  new  conditions  that  arose,  it  was  necessary  to 
develop  a  new  jurisprudence.  From  the  Roman  law,  two 
theories  were  extracted  which  were  used  to  justify  the 
ordinary  customs  of  business  men.  One  was  the  theory  of 
the  absolute  right  of  private  property  in  the  unchristian 
sense  that  a  man  has  a  right  to  do  what  he  likes  with  his 
own.  The  other  was  the  recognition  of  an  unlimited  freedom 
of  contract  apart  from  any  previous  moral  considerations. 
In  this  way  they  endeavoured  to  justify  the  ordinary  course 
of  trade,  and  I  need  not  tell  you  that  a  society  based  on 
two  such  principles  is  sure  to  come  to  grief  In  order 
to  cope  with  these  evil  tendencies,  Churchmen  began  a  fresh 


COMMERCIAL  MORALITY  71 

consideration  of  economic  questions.  They  studied  the 
facts,  they  applied  their  Christian  principles,  and  formulated 
rules  for  the  guidance  of  conduct.  They  made  their  appeal 
to  the  individual  conscience,  and  with  such  good  effect  that 
finally  practical  men  in  their  various  secular  organizations 
were  moved  to  regulate  these  matters  more  in  accordance 
with  Christian  morality.-^  And  now  once  more  this  appears 
to  be  just  the  sort  of  work  that  earnest  Christians  are  called 
upon  to  perform.  The  professors  of  political  economy 
are  quite  clear  about  their  own  special  work.  They  say,  '  We 
merely  state  facts.  The  existing  methods  of  trade  may  be 
moral  or  immoral ;  the  results  good  or  bad.  We  leave  it 
to  men  of  conscience  and  common-sense  to  decide  what 
Christian  men  of  business  ought  to  do.'  And  though  the 
task  is  not  an  easy  one  and  the  difficulties  are  consider- 
able, there  is  at  the  same  time  every  reason  to  be  en- 
couraged. Whichever  way  we  turn  there  is  opportunity 
for  us  to  do  something  deliberately,  systematically,  and 
unitedly,  in  the  directions  indicated. 

Let  me  briefly  conclude  with  two  quotations.  On  the 
one  hand,  in  regard  to  the  responsibility  of  society  as  a 
whole,  we  have  Professor  Marshall  writing  that  '  Public 
opinion,  based  on  sound  economics  and  just  morality,  will, 
it  may  be  hoped,  become  ever  more  and  more  the  arbiter  of 
the  conditions  of  industry.'!  And,  on  the  other  hand,  with 
a  view  to  encouraging  our  hopefulness,  we  have  been  recently 
reassured  by  the  Bishop  of  Durham  that  '  There  is  about 
us  enough  spiritual  force  and  action  to  win  the  world,'  but, 
alas  !  it  is  so  '  dispersed,  undisciplined,  undirected.' +  There- 
fore the  duty  that  hes  upon  us  now  is  to  summon  the  forces 
at  our  command,  and  to  concentrate  our  energies.  Above 
all  let  us  understand  that  the  grace  of  God  does  not  fail  as 
it  comes  down  through  thefages.     His  power  is  still  with  us, 

*  Cf.  Ashley's  '  Economic  History,'  book  i,,  chap.  iii. 

f  '  Economics  of  Industry,'  p.  41 1, 

X  'The  Incarnation  and  Common  Life,'  p.  14. 


72  COMMERCIAL  MORALITY 

and  is  as  strong  as  ever  to  inspire  and  brace  the  human  will. 
The  claim  our  Lord  makes  upon  business  men  to-day  is  the 
same  as  that  which  He  laid  upon  His  first  followers.  It  is 
expressed  in  the  principle  which  mediaeval  theologians  ap- 
phed  so  successfully  to  the  economic  problems  of  their  own 
generation.  And  it  should  be  the  regulative  test  of  the 
Christian  conduct  of  trade  and  commerce  now,  '  All  things 
whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even 
so  to  them.' 


WAGES. 


REV.  WILLIAM  CUNNINGHAM,  D.D., 

FELLOW   OF   TRINITY    COLLEGE,    CAMBRIDGE  ;    AND    PROFESSOR    OF 
POLITICAL    ECONOMY,    KING's    COLLEGE,    LONDON. 

'  The  labourer   is   worthy  of  his 
hire.'—^T.  LuKE  x.  lo. 

THERE  are  different  ways  in  which  our  religion 
may  come  to  influence  our  conduct  towards  our 
neighbours.  It  may  sometimes  point  out 
kindnesses  that  we  ought  to  do,  from  love  to 
God,  towards  our  fellow -creatures — virtues  which  we 
might  not  feel  bound  to  cultivate  at  all,  if  it  were  not 
for  the  teaching  and  example  of  our  Lord ;  and  sometimes 
our  Christian  belief  serves,  not  to  point  out  new  duties,  but 
to  give  us  better  reasons  and  stronger  motives  for  doing  the 
ordinary  moral  duties,  which  good  men  of  any  creed  and 
any  time  have  recognised  as  binding  upon  them.  It  is 
well,  I  think,  that  we  should  try  to  keep  these  two  distinct 
in  our  minds,  to  see,  at  least,  how  far  ordinary  morality  will 
carry  us — the  morality  of  the  man  who  makes  no  profession 
of  religion — before  we  go  on  to  consider  what  is  specifically 
Christian. 

This  distinction  is  drawn  for  us  pointedly  by  the  old- 
fashioned  proverb  which  bids  us  be  Just  before  we  are 
generous.  In  thinking  about  duty  in  regard  to  wages,  we 
have  to  do  primarily  w^ith  what  is  Just,  not  so  much  with 
what  is  generous  or  philanthropic  or  charitable.      The  labourer 


74  WAGES 

is  worthy  of  his  hire.  We  have  to  try  ourselves  by  considera- 
tions oi  Justice,  and  not,  in  the  first  instance,  at  any  rate,  by 
any  sentiment  of  kindliness  or  self-sacrifice  or  brotherly 
love.  These  have  their  place,  too,  as  we  shall  presently 
see ;  but  the  fundamental  ethical  question  is  not  one  of 
pity  for  the  poor  or  help  for  the  needy,  but  oi  Justice  between 
man  and  man,  justice  to  be  done  all  the  more  carefully  and 
eagerly  by  the  professing  Christian,  but  still  justice  as 
recognised  and  understood  by  all. 

I.  The  accusation  of  injustice  in  our  existing  social 
arrangements  is  frequently  uttered  and  readily  repeated. 
We  continually  hear  that  the  labourer  ought  '  to  have  a 
larger  share  of  the  wealth  which  his  labour  creates.'  Viewed 
as  a  simple  question  of  justice,  it  seems  a  very  difficult  one 
to  pronounce  upon.  If,  as  some  ignorant*  people  think — 
and  the  language  of  Adam  Smith  gives  at  least  some 
apparent  economic  authority  for  their  opinion — manual 
labour,  alone  and  unassisted,  were  the  sole  factor  in  the 
production  of  wealth,  there  would  be  little  more  to  be  said 
from  the  point  of  view  of  justice ;  but,  though  a  necessary 
element,  labour  is  not  by  any  means  the  only  necessary 
element.  Our  whole  industrial  organization  is  very  com- 
plicated ;  the  manual  labourer  has  not  either  the  means  or 
the  opportunity  of  labouring  by  himself  and  on  his  own 
account.  The  capitalist,  who  may  often  be  a  sleeping 
partner,  supplies  the  means — materials,  and  tools  ;  the  em- 
ployer, who  manages  the  business,  and  who  may  be  either 
a  capitalist,  or  the  agent  of  the  capitalists,  takes  orders 
and  hires  men ;  he  supplies  opportunity  of  working.  It  is 
possible  that  some  better  method  of  supplying  the  manual 
worker  with  the  means  of  labour  and  the  opportunity  of 
labour  may  be  found,  though  personally  I   have  little  ex- 

*  This  phrase  does  not,  so  far  as  I  see,  and  certainly  was  not  meant 
to,  apply  to  scientific  socialists  who  would  reconstitute  society  altogether, 
but  to  persons  I  have  met  who  accept  the  present  constitution  of  society, 
and  yet  advocate  changes  w^hich  are  incompatible  with  its  continued 
existence. 


WAGES  75 

pectation  of  any  very  immediate  or  substantial  alteration 
in  this  respect.  But  the  question  is  whether,  under  these 
existing  conditions  of  industry,  the  reward  of  labour  is  just. 
And  this  question  involves  many  problems  of  great  difficulty. 

I.  (<^)  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  easy  for  any  outsider  like 
myself  to  know  what  the  division  is,  at  the  present  time,  in 
any  trade.  Partly  owing  to  the  credit  system,  and  partly 
owing  to  other  circumstances,  there  is  a  decided,  and 
possibly  a  necessary,  reticence  on  the  part  of  employers 
and  capitalists  as  to  the  profits  of  business.  Even  in  those 
cases  of  joint -stock  concerns,  where  the  accounts  are 
printed  and  sent  to  the  shareholders,  it  is  not  usual  to  give 
such  details  as  enable  the  outsider  to  judge  what  the  division 
really  is.  This  reticence  seems  to  me  very  much  to  be 
regretted ;  there  may,  of  course,  be  good  and  sufficient 
reasons  for  it  of  which  I  am  unaware,  but  it  serves  to  en- 
gender the  suspicion  that  profits  and  salaries  are  unduly 
large,  and  that  suspicion  is  hkely  to  continue  and  grow  so 
long  as  the  concealment  is  maintained. 

{/?)  Another  difficulty  is  this — the  functions  performed 
by  the  manual  labourer,  the  capitalist,  and  the  employer, 
are  all  necessary,  but  they  are  very  different ;  it  is  extremely 
difficult  to  compare  them  with  one  another,  or  to  say  at 
what  ratio  they  ought  to  be  respectively  rewarded.  The 
disagreeables  of  the  labourer's  lot  are  obvious — hard  physical 
toil,  with  risk  of  accident  to  hfe  and  limb,  and  very  insecure 
tenure  of  his  employment ;  generosity  or  charity  may  well 
take  these  into  account,  but  mere  justice  has  rather  to  con- 
sider the  importance  of  his  personal  contribution  to  the 
total  result,  as  compared  with  the  importance  of  the  personal 
contributions  of  others ;  each  element  is  necessary,  but 
some  are  more  difficult  to  procure  than  others — just  as  air 
and  food  are  alike  necessary  for  life,  but  food  is  harder  to 
secure  than  air;  and  justice  must  take  this  kind  of  considera- 
tion into  account.  It  has  to  weigh  against  one  another 
according    to    their   respective    importance,   and   therefore 


76  WAGES 

their  fair  reward — the  physical  work  of  the  labourer,  the 
me7ital  work  of  the  employer,  and  the  enterprise  of  the 
capitaHst  in  undertaking  the  pecuniary  risks  of  business. 
It  seems  to  me  very  hard  to  say  how  such  incommensurable 
elements  should  be  rewarded  respectively;  but  perhaps  I 
may  point  out,  in  passing,  that  if  one  looks  back  over  a 
century  or  two  it  is  clear  that  the  rate  of  the  reward  of 
enterprise  is  steadily  declining ;  also  that,  with  the  invention 
of  machinery,  manual  skill  is  no  longer  of  such  predominant 
importance  in  production  as  it  once  was,  while  the  skill  and 
organizing  faculties  of  the  employer  are  far  more  taxed  than 
was  ever  the  case  before ;  business  capacity  is  the  one  of  the 
three  necessary  elements  which  now  seems  to  be  of  increased 
importance,  and  to  receive  a  greatly  increased  rate  of  reward. 

{c)  All  such  calculations  are,  however,  beset  by  a  third 
difficulty  ;  where,  as  in  a  very  large  proportion  of  businesses, 
the  employer  works  with  his  own  capital,  it  is  impossible  for 
outsiders,  and  it  may  be  difficult  for  him,  to  assess  the  re- 
ward he  draws  as  employer  (for  wages  of  management),  and 
the  reward  he  gets  as  capitalist  for  the  money  invested  in  the 
business.  Again,  as  the  labourer  always  gets  paid  something, 
while  the  capitalist  sometimes  makes  losses,  and  sometimes 
gets  large  gains,  it  is  very  difficult  to  compare  the  actual 
remuneration,  on  the  whole,  of  those  who  reap  their  reward 
in  such  different  forms. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  seems  as  if  it  were  hardly 
possible  to  take  such  obscure  and  complicated  considera- 
tions into  account,  and  to  get  at  the  justice  of  the  case. 
There  is,  however,  one  way  in  which  we  may,  I  think,  cut 
the  knot ;  we  may  find  a  rough-and-ready  test  of  justice,  or 
rather,  perhaps,  of  injustice,  by  looking  at  expediency.  We 
may  frame  this  canon,  that  what  is  expedient  for  any  business 
as  a  whole,  is  not  obviously  U7ijust  for  any  of  the  partners  in 
that  business.  It  is  expedient  for  any  business,  on  the  whole, 
that  each  of  the  three  necessary  factors  should  be  adequately 
supplied  and  maintained;  it  is  expedient  that  capital  should 


WAGES  77 

be  so  rewarded  that  there  may  be  money  available  for  the 
development  and  expansion  of  business ;  it  is  expedient 
that  business  capacity  should  be  so  rewarded  that  men  of 
energy  and  enterprise  should  be  willing  to  devote  them- 
selves to  the  management  of  its  affairs  ;  it  is  well  that  labour 
should  be  so  rewarded  that  the  workman  may  be  vigorous 
in  mind  and  body,  and  thoroughly  at  his  best.  And,  tried 
by  this  test,  it  may  at  least  be  doubted  if  the  two  elements 
which  are  largely  rewarded  are  over-rewarded,  or  get  more 
than  what  is  expedient.  It  is  at  least  arguable  that  the 
present  prospects  of  the  reward  of  capital  are  such,  that  it  is 
not  readily  forthcoming  for  the  farther  development  of  rail- 
way enterprise.  It  is  obvious  that  the  high  salaries  paid  for 
business  capacity  in  that  line  of  hfe  are  paid  to  men  who 
have  worked  their  way  up,  and  proved  themselves  to  be 
worth  the  money.  Tried  by  this  test,  it  is  hard  to  say  that 
either  the  capitalist  or  the  employer  gets  foo  inuch^  or  has  an 
unjustly  large  share. 

2.  But  even  if  this  be  true,  there  seem  to  be  grounds  for 
urging  that  the  labourer  gets  too  little  ;  it  seems  as  if  the 
employer  and  the  capitalist,  with  their  requirements,  were 
first  taken  account  of,  and  the  labourer  had  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  leavings.  To  some  extent  this  has  been,  to  some 
extent  it  is,  true.  We  must  therefore  fall  back  on  those 
farther  questions.  How  far  is  it  true  that  the  labourer  gets 
too  little?  What  test  can  we  apply  to  see  whether  the 
labourer  is  unjustly  treated  and  does  not  get  enough  ? 

And,  so  far  as  I  see,  the  best  test  we  can  apply  is  a 
physical  one ;  the  labourer  gets  enough  if  he  has  the 
material  means  of  being  at  his  best ;  kept  in  good  health, 
vigorous,  and  alert  in  mind  and  body,  and  able  to  maintain 
a  home  in  which  he  can  rear  vigorous,  intelligent,  and  moral 
children  to  succeed  him  in  time.  Efficieticy  present  and  to 
come  is  the  test  of  sufficiency.  If  the  labourer  is  so  fed  and 
clothed  that  he  cannot  work  vigorously  ;  if  he  is  over- 
strained, so  that  he  becomes  prematurely  old  ;  if  his  children 


78  WAGES 

are  decrepit  and  miserably  fed,  so  that  they  never  grow  up 
to  be  fit  for  hard  and  regular  work^ — then,  assuredly,  he  has 
too  little.  On  the  causes  and  possible  cure  I  may  have 
more  to  say  ;  but  at  the  moment  let  me  add  that  I  think 
the  verdict  of  the  casual  observer  in  this  country  at  present 
would  be,  that  some  labourers  are  paid  sufficiently  to  enable 
them  and  their  children  to  be  efficient,  and  that  some  are 
not.     Let  us  think  a  little  of  each  in  turn. 

(a)  For  those  who  in  the  present  day  enjoy  a  '  sufficiency 
of  wages,'  those  who  are  sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  aristo- 
cracy of  labour,  there  is  one  thing  worth  remembering.  We 
are  still  viewing  it  all  as  a  question  of  justice — mere  justice. 
T/ie  labourer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.  Yes,  he  ought  to  be  ; 
but  is  he  ?  Is  every  man's  work  worth  the  money  that  is 
paid  him  ?  If  he  gets  sufficient  wage,  does  he  do  efficient 
labour  for  it  ?  There  are  many  complaints  rife  of  men  who 
are  incompetent,  of  men  who  shirk  and  scamp,  who  idle,  out 
of  an  ignorant  desire  to  make  work  for  the  unemployed. 
For  the  apostolic  maxim,  'That  if  any  would  not  work, 
neither  should  he  eat,'  has  a  double  bearing  :  it  does  pro- 
nounce a  condemnation  on  those  who,  relieved  from  the 
task  of  providing  for  personal  needs,  do  not  set  themselves 
to  do  service  in  some  fashion  to  God  and  man,  but  live  in 
laziness.  But  it  also  condemns  those  who,  taking  the  wages 
of  labour,  yet  idle  away  their  time.  Assuredly,  if  justice 
demands  that  the  labourer  should  get  a  sufficient  wage,  it 
insists,  not  less  imperatively,  that  he  shall  do  the  work  for 
which  he  is  paid  efficiently  and  well. 

{b)  For  here,  at  least,  justice  and  expediency  coincide ; 
we  may  all  welcome  every  possible  step  in  progress, 
every  raising  of  the  standard  of  comfort  of  the  working 
man  in  every  branch  of  industry.  But  for  those  classes  of 
labour  which  have  sufficient  at  present,  there  is  only  one 
way  in  which  a  farther  improvement  can  come  by  increased 
efficiency.  If  there  is  a  larger  net  result  of  the  combined 
energy  of  employers  and  employed,  there  will  be  more  for 


WAGES  79 

each  ;  there  is  a  possibihty  of  an  increased  reward  for  labour 
which  can  be  permanently  maintained,  because  it  is  really 
earned.  But  an  increased  reward,  which  neither  arises 
from  nor  calls  forth  increased  efficiency,  is  hardly  likely  to 
be  maintained  ;  it  is  likely  to  attract  outsiders  to  migrate 
and  compete  for  this  highly-paid  work,  and  there  will  be 
difficulty  in  excluding  them.  Or  it  may  be  secured  at  the 
expense  of  the  capitalist  and  employers,  or  at  the  expense 
of  the  public ;  and  in  either  case  there  is  a  danger  of  an 
injury  to  the  trade  which  may  react  on  the  wage-earner. 
For  instance,  a  limitation  of  hours,  which  does  7iot  call  forth 
more  efficiency,  but  merely  distributes  employment  among 
more  hands,  and  produces  the  same  result  at  greater  ex- 
pense to  capitalists  or  the  public,  is  likely  to  injure  the 
trade,  and  to  afford,  before  many  months  elapse,  less  regular 
employment  than  before.  For,  indeed,  the  days  of  privilege 
have  gone  by ;  no  class  of  workers  can  secure  and  maintain 
specially  favourable  conditions  for  itself,  at  the  expense  of 
the  public  and  to  the  exclusion  of  other  workers,  unless  it 
can  prove  its  title  by  superior  efficiency.  An  improved 
wage  thus  secured,  thus  justly  won,  is  a  real  gain ;  but  any 
attempt  of  those,  whose  wages  are  sufficient,  to  secure  a 
larger  reward  without  increased  efficiency  and  at  the  expense 
either  of  the  public  or  the  employers,  is  of  doubtful  expe- 
diency ;  it  does  not  seem  to  be  a  just  demand. 

{c)  We  have  seen  in  what  direction  we  must  look  for  the 
improvement  of  the  wages  of  those  who  have  sufficient ;  we 
shall  find  that  a  very  similar  reason  accounts  for  the  starva- 
tion wages  which  too  many  others  are  compelled  to  take  ; 
their  wages  are  iiisifficietit^  because  they  themselves  are 
i?tefficient ;  they  may  be  very  laborious  and  industrious,  but 
what  they  do  is  some  trivial,  mechanical  work,  quickly 
learned  and  easily  done.  And  hence  it  seems  that  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  starvation  wages  are  not  unjust — not 
unjust  as  between  man  and  man ;  the  work  done  is  worth 
little,  and  as  a  mere  matter  of  justice  it  cannot  be  highly 


8o  WAGES 

paid.  To  insist  that  we  ought  to  pay  more  than  the  market 
rate  for  work,  is  to  appeal  to  the  kindness  of  the  charitable, 
but  no  such  obligation  is  incumbent  on  any  man  out  of 
mere  justice. 

3.  This  seems  to  be  a  hard  doctrine,  and  there  need  be 
no  surprise  that  many  are  at  present  inclined  to  urge  that 
justice,  in  an  extended  sense,  demands  that  all  who  labour 
hard  and  long  shall  be  able  to  secure  in  return  the  neces- 
saries and  decencies  of  life.  This  is  the  feeUng  that  lies 
at  the  bottom  of  much  of  the  demand  for  a  living  wage."^ 
When  this  demand  is  made  on  behalf  of  the  lowest  and 
least  well  paid  portion  of  the  population,  as  if  it  were  a 
duty  for  public  authority  to  step  in  and  ensure  them  a 
sufficiency  by  law,  we  are  bound  to  scrutinize  the  proposal 
closely. 

{a)  A  good  deal  of  isolated  evidence  can  be  adduced  in 
favour  of  this  proposal ;  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  an 
attempt  of  this  kind  might,  in  some  circumstances  and  in 
some  trades,  produce  beneficial  results.  There  are  cases 
where  people,  if  they  were  better  paid,  would  be  able  to  do 
better  work,  and  the  raising  of  their  wages  would  be  econo- 
mically successful,  since  it  would  call  forth  more  efficiency. 
I  have  often  heard  this  alleged  as  proved  by  experience  in 
certain  classes  of  agricultural  labour. 

{b)  Nor  need  we  be  deterred  from  the  experiment  by  the 
fear  that  some  trades  would  be  killed  off  altogether.  If 
they  cannot  be  maintained  in  this  country,  except  on  terms 
which  are  permanently  degrading  to  a  section  of  the  popu- 
lation, it  is  at  least  a  question  whether  they  should  be  main- 
tained at  all.  There  is  no  real  kindness  in  inducing  men 
to  stick  to  a  dying  trade — as  the  handloorn  weavers  stuck 
to  their  calling,  and  starved  at  it.     The  line  taken  by  the 

*  '  The  endeavour  to  fix  a  living  wage  from  time  to  time  in  trades 
that  have  a  sufficiency  on  the  whole,  so  as  to  prevent  the  rate  of  reward 
falling  below  that  level,  seems  to  me  to  be  quite  on  a  different  footing 
from  any  proposal  to  introduce  a  living  wage  as  a  means  of  elevating 
the  sweated  classes.' — Contemporary  Review,  January,  1894. 


WAGES  8i 

men  who  insisted  on  passing  the  great  Factory  Acts  was 
that  it  would  be  better  that  the  cotton  trade  should  be 
destroyed  than  that  it  should  continue  under  the  then 
existing  conditions.  On  this  principle  we  may  still  take 
our  stand, 

(c)  But  still  I  can  have  no  hope  for  the  success  of  any 
attempt  to  raise  the  standard  of  comfort  of  the  poorest 
classes  by  merely  insisting  that  they  shall  be  better  paid. 
For,  after  all,  to  give  a  man  more  money  is  to  give  him  an 
opportunity— there  is  no  security  that  he  will  take  advantage 
of ^  it.     The  mere  offering  of  opportunities  does  not  in  itself 
bring  about  improvement ;  if  things  were  readjusted  so  that 
opportunities  of  rising  were  always  available,  this  very  fact 
might  even  engender  greater  carelessness  about  making  the 
most  of  them.     If  we  think  of  the  past  and  of  the  present, 
we  shall  see  how  many  existing  opportunities  of  rising  are 
misused ;  how  some  are  inclined  to  take  out  any  additional 
gain  in  mere  idleness,  and  some  in  excess  of  one  kind  or 
another,   and    some  in  improvident  marriage.      I  do   not 
speak    harshly  of   such  human  weakness,   I  note  it   as    a 
fact— a  fact  that  is  familiar  enough  to  everyone—for  who 
among  us  is   not  aware  that  he  has  wasted  some  of  his 
opportunities,  and   thrown  away  some  of  his  chances   by 
carelessness  and  folly  ?     To  provide  the  opportunity  of  im- 
provement is  much,  but  it  is  not  enough ;  it  certainly  is 
not  all  that  is  needed ;  and  when  we  see  what  a  little  way  it 
would  take  us,  how  much  disorganization  it  must  cause,  how 
much  temptation  it  would  offer,  how  little  good  it  would  en- 
sure, we  can  only  say  that  what  is  so  little  expedient  cannot 
be  really  right. 

II.  Is  there,  then,  no  way  out  of  the  trouble,  no  hope  be- 
fore us  ?  None  that  I  see  so  long  as  we  confine  ourselves 
to  the  thought  of  justice,  and  the  mere  endeavour  to  carry 
this  plain  duty  into  effect.  No  simple  appeal  to  mere 
justice  will  take  us  very  far  when  we  once  see  that  there  is 
a  question  of  elevating  a  large  section  of  the  population  to  a 

6 


82  WAGES 

better  condition,  material,  intellectual,  and  moral.  No  cut- 
and-dry  formula  will  solve  the  difficulty  of  really  raising 
them.  We  must  go  to  something  else  than  justice;  we 
must  rely  on  a  principle  that  is  characteristically,  if  not 
exclusively,  Christian — on  charity  or  i  philanthropy.  Justice 
does  not  demand  that  we  should  continue  unweariedly  to 
offer  opportunities  of  improvement  to  those  who  may  mis- 
use them ;  but  charity  does,  charity  beareth  all  things,  be- 
lieveth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things.  It  is  not  easily  provoked, 
it  is  not  easily  discouraged — only  such  a  principle  as  this  can 
persist  unweariedly  in  the  task  before  us. 

And  if  that  task  is  to  be  accomplished,  charity  must  be 
not  only  enthusiastic  and  hopeful,  but  wise ;  we  must  add 
knowledge  to  zeal.  It  is  terrible  to  think  how  much  mis- 
chief has  been  done  and  misery  brought  about  by  careless 
and  ignorant  kindness.  The  African  slave  trade  to  America 
is  a  monument  of  the  evil  that  well-meaning  philanthropy 
may  do  :  it  was  introduced  by  a  man  who  desired  to  relieve 
the  American  of  arduous  work  for  which  he  was  unfitted, 
and  to  substitute  a  stronger  race.  The  degraded  pauperism 
of  the  beginning  of  this  century  was  the  direct  result  of 
the  well-meaning  philanthropy  of  magistrates  who  relaxed 
the  stringency  of  poor-law  administration  in  a  time  of  tem- 
porary distress — a  proved  act  of  folly  which  some  seem 
ready  to  repeat.  Above  all,  let  us  remember  this — ^justice 
may  lay  down  and  apply  a  general  principle,  but  it  cannot 
be  so  in  the  same  way  with  charity,  for  charity  cannot  ac- 
complish its  task  wholesale ;  it  must  be  discriminating,  and 
personal,  and  careful,  if  it  is  to  find  out  the  best  way  of 
giving  the  poorest  and  the  most  degraded  a  better  chance, 
over  and  over  again. 

And  if  we  thus  turn  to  Christianity  for  the  principle  that 
can  afford  opportunity,  we  shall  also  find  in  it  a  power  to 
call  forth  effort  to  use  any  new  opportunity ;  there  is  help 
which  is  characteristically,  if  not  exclusively.  Christian  on 
this  side  also.     Here  we  can  find  an  ideal  of  life,  an  ideal 


WAGES  83 

which  we  shall  never  outlive,  for  it  is  supernatural,  and  yet 
an  ideal  which  floats  but  a  little  way  before  us,  which  is 
visualized  and  depicted  in  terms  of  earthly  things — we  look 
for  a  new  and  a  better  earth.  And  as  our  religion  affords 
an  ideal  to  kindle  enthusiasm,  so,  too,  it  can,  not  less  truly, 
supply  the  strength  to  struggle  undauntedly  on,  to  rise 
above  hopelessness,  to  overcome  passion,  to  shake  off  the 
evil  that  besets  men  and  keeps  them  down.  The  miseries 
of  the  world  reappear  in  new  and  changing  forms,  but  the 
old  remedies  are  at  hand — more  faith  in  the  power  of  Christ, 
more  hope  for  the  triumph  of  Christ,  more  likeness  to  the 
loving  nature  of  Christ.  These  we  may  rely  on,  and  they 
cannot  fail,  for  there  is  indeed  a  Name  given  whereby  men 
may  be  saved  from  degradation,  as  from  every  other  ev 
thing. 


6—2 


THE    UNEMPLOYED. 


REV.  CANON  BARNETT, 

WARDEN     OF    TOYNBEE     HALL. 


^  And  Nathan  said  to  David,  Thou 
art  the  inan.^ — 2  Samuel  xii.  7. 


A 


N  enchantment  seems  to  lie  on  the  land.  Work 
is  waiting  to  be  done ;  workers  are  waiting  to 
do  the  work;  capital  is  waiting  employment. 
Streets,  for  want  of  cleaning  or  repair,  threaten 
the  public  health ;  and  buildings,  for  want  of  decoration 
or  variety,  depress  energy.  Hands,  which  might  clean 
away  the  dirt  and  make  beauty,  are  unemployed ;  and 
capital,  which  might  use  the  unemployed  hands,  lies  idle. 
Work,  workers,  capital,  are  waiting.  It  seems,  as  in  the  old 
fairy  tales,  as  if  only  a  touch  were  wanting  to  break  the  en- 
chantment and  set  capital  on  employing  the  workers  to  do 
the  work.  It  seems  as  if  one  impulse  might  substitute  the 
buzz  of  happy  industry  for  the  sullen  silence  of  idleness. 
As  in  the  fairy  tales,  there  are  many  aspirants  to  give  the 
touch  which  will  break  the  enchantment.  They  come  with 
their  scheme  or  their  nostrum,  their  ballot-box  or  their  dyna- 
mite, and  they  claim  that  they  are  the  saviours  of  society 
who  will  provide  for  the  unemployed. 

We  are  here  to-day  as  Christians  to  consider  this  strange 
condition.  We  put  ourselves,  therefore,  first  of  all,  in  the 
presence  of  Christ.  We  turn  from  the  sight  of  the  want 
and  the  waste ;  we  give  up  being  anxious  and  careful  about 
many  things,  that  we  may  sit  for  a  moment  at  the  feet  of 


THE  UNEMPLOYED 


85 


Christ.  Christian  work  must  begin  with  Christian  prayer. 
In  Christ's  presence  there  is  peace.  Our  passion  of 
humanity  becomes  no  less,  but  our  patience  becomes 
greater.  Our  hearts  are  still  on  fire,  but  the  fire  is 
restrained.  Fire  which  will  not  bear  restraint  will  never 
burn  ;  ana  Paul,  the  most  passionate  of  Apostles,  preached, 
'  Let  your  moderation  be  known  among  all  men.'  Calm, 
therefore,  from  the  presence  of  Christ  we  come  back  to 
consider  the  world  in  which  we  live,  with  its  idle  and  unem- 
ployed, its  waste  and  its  want. 

1.  We  see  that  modern  society  is  not  altogether  bad  and 
corrupt.  Some  of  its  members  may  be  degraded  by  wealth 
or  by  poverty ;  some  may  suffer  for  want  of  work ;  but  the 
majority  of  the  people  are  occupants  of  happy  homes.  Ex- 
cessive poverty  is  no  more  common  than  excessive  wealth, 
and  there  is  more  of  good-will  than  of  ill-will  among  men. 
Unhappiness,  like  disease,  is  the  exception ;  happiness,  like 
wealth,  is  the  rule.  A  poet  is  wanted  to  tell  of  the  life 
lived  in  the  houses  which  demurely  face  London  and 
suburban  streets — the  simple  family  life  of  hard  work  and 
fireside  happiness — where  the  rare  pleasure  is  a  stimulant 
and  not  a  drug,  where  love,  cherished  by  daily  contact, 
bears  its  burdens  as  a  joy,  and  shows  itself  in  kindly  thoughts 
and  gentle  charities.  There  are  few  sweeter  sights  on  earth 
than  a  workman's  home,  and  there  is  a  sort  of  blasphemy 
in  the  exaggerations  which  speak  of  universal  wretchedness. 
Reformers  may  weep  over  London  as  Jesus  wept  over 
Jerusalem  ;  but  they  may  go,  as  Jesus  went,  to  simple 
homes  where  they  may  find  rest  and  refreshment  for  body 
and  mind,  as  they  watch  the  housewife  neatly  busy,  as  they 
hear  the  children  laugh,  or  spend  the  quiet  evening-hour  in 
reading  or  in  talk. 

2.  While  peace  and  calm  still  rule  our  vision,  we  see  also 
that  the  unemployed  are  not  what  passion  or  pity  pictures 
them.  The  vast  majority  are  not  capable,  skilled  men  who 
have  no  work  to  do ;  and  those  who  have  no  work  are  not 


86  THE  UNEMPLOYED 

always  those  who  want  work.  Inquiry  shows  that  in  trades 
unions  making  monthly  returns  only  about  seven  per  cent,  of 
their  members  are  out  of  work,  for  all  causes,  at  the  worst 
season  of  the  year. 

Inquiry  further  shows  that  many  who  register  themselves 
as  unemployed  are  unfit  for  work.  They  have  not  the 
strength,  the  physical  and  mental  capacity,  to  meet  modern 
requirements ;  or  they  have  not  the  character — the  self- 
restraint — to  be  punctual  or  sober.  Where  work  has  been 
offered,  as  at  Leeds  and  Millbank,  it  has  been  found  that 
ninety  per  cent,  of  the  applicants  have  been  of  this  casual 
class — men  who  by  choice  or  incapacity  have  been  unable 
to  do  continuous  work. 

Lastly,  it  is  obvious  that,  among  all  classes  of  society, 
there  are  some  men  who  will  not  work — confirmed  loafers, 
who  live  on  the  carelessness  of  society  or  their  families. 

The  unemployed,  calmly  considered,  is  not  an  army  of 
willing  workers ;  but  is  rather  a  body  largely  made  up  of 
those  half  employed,  those  unfit  for  employment,  and  those 
unwilHng  to  be  employed.  As  Mr.  C.  Booth  has  said, 
'  Lack  of  work  is  not  really  the  disease,  and  the  mere  pro- 
vision of  it  is  therefore  useless  as  a  cure.'  There  is,  doubt- 
less, a  minority  ready  for  regular  work  and  unable  to  find 
it ;  but  these  do  not  make  the  mass  whose  numbers  over- 
whelm thought. 

Those  reformers  are  wrong  who  would  upset  society,  and 
destroy  the  happy  homes  of  the  many,  in  the  hope  of  find- 
ing work  for  the  unemployed. 

The  patience  of  our  Lord's  Passion — His  dignity.  His 
restraint.  His  calm — makes  it  impossible  for  His  followers 
to  be  mere  revolutionists  or  railing  accusers  of  the  ignor- 
ant and  selfish.  '  He  that  believeth  shall  not  make  haste.' 
'  In  patience  possess  ye  your  souls.'  On  the  other  hand, 
the  sacrifice  of  our  Lord — His  devotion.  His  enthusiasm, 
His  care  for  the  least.  His  gift  of  Himself  for  the  lowest — 
makes  it  impossible  for  His  followers  to  do  nothing.    '  Fight 


THE  UNEMPLOYED  87 

the  good  fight.'  *  Be  vigilant.'  '  Man  must  be  a  fighter 
ever.'  If  there  is  one  unhappy  amid  the  ninety-nine  who 
are  happy,  if  there  is  one  who  is  wretched,  wilful,  lazy,  or 
drunken,  amid  the  crowd  of  the  wiUing  and  sober,  the 
Christian  must  leave  the  ninety-nine  and  go  after  the  one. 
The  most  undeserving  has  the  greatest  claim. 

They  who  take  Christ  into  themselves  are  bound  to  be 
here  as  those  who  serve.  We  may  see  that  struggle  and 
death  work  out  good ;  we  may  mark  the  exaggerations  of  en- 
thusiasts or  partisans  ;  but  as  long  as  we  see  one  brother  in 
need,  the  memory  of  our  Lord's  gift  constrains  us.  He  gave 
Himself,  and  we  must  give  ourselves.  The  Christian's 
question  is  always,  '  Master,  what  can  I  do  ?' 

Systems  which  have  done  most  to  raise  humanity  have 
not  been  those  which  have  stirred  anger  against  society,  or 
levelled  accusations  against  a  class  with  the  cry  of,  '  Ours 
the  rights,  yours  the  faults.'  Systems  which  have  advanced 
the  world  have  been  those  which  have  roused  a  man  against 
himself,  forced  the  confession,  '  Mine  the  fault,'  and  raised 
the  cry  of  Duty.  They,  as  Mazzini  has  taught  us,  who  fight 
only  for  their  rights  forget  their  duties  to  others,  and  become 
in  their  turn  tyrants. 

Successful  reforms  have  always  been  in  essence  puritan 
—the  work  of  men  who,  as  individuals,  have  fought 
evil  in  themselves.  Christianity  aims  to  purify  the  indi- 
vidual. It  says  to  him  when  he  accuses  others,  'Judge 
thyself.'  It  calls  him  to  begin  with  self-reform— to  take  the 
beam  out  of  his  own  eye  if  he  would  take  the  mote  from 
his  brother's  eye.  Its  teaching  is,  'Thou  must  be  born 
again.'  And,  as  Dean  Stanley  says,  '  "  Thou  art  the  man  " 
is  or  ought  to  be— expressed  or  unexpressed— the  conclusion 
of  every  practical  sermon.' 

Christ  still  leads  His  followers  one  by  one,  and  he  who 
feels  His  presence  asks,  not,  '  What  ought  they  to  do  ?'  but, 
'  What  can  I  do  ?' 

As   citizen,  as   employer,  as  employed,  as  neighbour— 


88  THE  UNEMPLOYED 

each  who  calls  himself  Christian  must  ask,  '  What  can  I  do 
for  the  unemployed  ?' 

1.  As  a  citizen  I  can  vote  for  the  general  interest,  and  not 
for  that  of  myself  or  my  class.  The  privileges  of  a  few 
make  the  hardship  of  the  many.  If  the  privileges  by  which 
some  benefit  were  removed,  there  might  be  more  work  for 
others.  I  can  vote  for  better  education.  If  everyone  had 
his  intellect  awakened  and  his  tastes  developed,  there  would 
not  be  so  many  incapable  of  responsibility,  or  so  unfit  for 
country  life.  I  can  vote  for  the  provision  of  training  for 
the  unskilled  and  of  discipHne  for  the  unwilling.  It  is  want 
of  strength  or  skill  which  prevents  many  from  doing  work. 
If  another  chance  of  acquiring  such  skill  were  offered, 
there  might  be  more  men  fit  to  relieve  those  who  are  now 
overworked.  If  each  voter  in  his  vote  bore  others'  burdens 
— fulfilling  the  law  of  Christ — some  needs  of  the  unem- 
ployed would  be  met. 

2.  As  an  employer  I  can  see  that  every  one  I  employ  re- 
ceives a  wage  adequate  to  support  life.  It  is  not  sufficient 
to  give  the  market  rate  or  even  what  the  union  requires. 
The  responsibility  is  the  employer's.  He  is  not  justified  if 
a  woman  receives  los.  or  12s.  a  week.  He  knows  this  wage 
is  inadequate  to  support  life  in  its  sickness  and  age.  It  is 
not  sufficient  either  for  a  member  of  a  company  to  throw 
the  responsibility  on  the  shareholders  ;  he  is  himself  respon- 
sible, and  must  agitate  for  adequate  wages  as  for  an  adequate 
dividend.  If  each  employer  thought  of  his  servant  as  Christ 
thinks  of  him,  the  half  employed  would  not  now  offer  a  sight 
so  disgraceful  to  our  humanity. 

3.  As  employed  I  can  see  that  I  put  in  good  work,  keep 
regular  hours  and  fill  up  my  time.  The  example  of  irre- 
gularity and  the  practice  of  dawdUng  so  as  to  spin  out 
jobs,  or  of  scamping  so  as  to  insure  their  renewal,  en- 
courage weaker  natures  in  courses  which  lead  to  loss  of 
work.  Many  of  the  unemployed  owe  their  condition  to  the 
bad  example  of  their  first  shops.     If  each  Christian  did  his 


THE  UNEMPLOYED  89 

work  with  all  his  might,  as  for  God  and  not  for  man,  there 
would  be  fewer  wayward  and  unstable  characters  unable  to 
do  continuous  work. 

4.  As  a  neighbour  I  can  befriend  a  neighbour.  Every- 
body knows  one  who  is  weak,  wilful,  or  drunken  ;  let  him 
devote  himself  to  that  one  with  the  persistency  and  the 
faithfulness  and  the  sympathy  of  Christ ;  let  him  leave  off 
dealing  with  masses  and  giving  to  beggars ;  let  him  hold  on 
to  the  one,  till  by  sacrifice  of  money,  time,  or  holidays,  he 
co?ivmces  him  of  his  care.  A  limit  would  soon  be  put  on 
his  luxury  which  absorbs  capital  and  embitters  human  rela- 
tions. How  could  he  who  cared  for  his  neighbour,  and 
believed  that  money  might  help  his  need,  spend  that  money 
on  fancy  foods  or  fancy  furniture  ?  Love  is  the  only  con- 
queror. The  rich  man  who  knows  his  poor  neighbour, 
not  by  reports  but  as  a  friend,  will  not  use  in  ostentation 
the  wealth  by  which  the  neighbour  could  be  strengthened. 
The  poor  man  who  knows  his  rich  neighbour,  not  by  sub- 
scription lists  or  gifts,  but  as  a  friend,  will  be  conscious  of 
a  new  force  urging  him  to  hope  and  effort.  If  every  one 
who  calls  himself  Christian  would  convince  his  neighbour 
not  simply  of  his  goodwill,  but  of  a  love  which  beareth 
all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth 
all  things,  many  a  man  who  is  hopeless  and  therefore  unem- 
ployed, would  become  a  happy  worker.  Conviction  of  love 
is  the  first  step  in  conversion. 

Christians  as  citizens,  as  employers,  as  employed,  as 
neighbours,  must  do  all  these  things  and  more  than  these 
things.  Christianity  does  not  provide  a  code  of  social 
duty.  It  does  not  say  what  is  the  limit  of  luxury,  and  it 
does  not  fix  the  living  wage.  Christianity  is  Christ's  spirit, 
and  it  is  too  large  to  be  shut  up  in  any  law  or  set  of  rules. 
Christ's  spirit  is  always  progressing,  guiding  men  into  new 
truth.  It  attacks  the  individual,  taking  by  storm  this  man 
to-day,  that  man  to-morrow ;  its  presence  is  first  visible  in 
the  rise  of  public  opinion,  and  afterwards  it  takes  shape  in 
law  or  rules  of  conduct.    But  the  law  and  the  rules  are  only 


90  THE  UNEMPLOYED 

for  a  time,  they  have  to  be  repealed  when  the  progress- 
ing spirit  requires  actions  which  are  higher  and  more 
loving.  Each  Christian,  as  a  follower  of  Christ,  must  obey 
His  spirit,  if  the  common  action — the  law — is  to  be  helpful. 
Individual  responsibility  is  the  corner-stone  of  progress. 

We  as  Christians  beheve  that  it  is  not  just  a  leader,  a 
great  social  reformer,  a  devoted  man,  who  calls  us  to  help 
the  weak.  We  believe  that  the  voice  of  God  speaks 
through  Christ.  The  Almighty  has  through  the  ages 
thundered  out  His  wrath  against  the  selfish  and  the  care- 
less. He  has  sought  the  successful  in  the  hour  of 
their  pride  and  their  security.  He  has  asked  the  question, 
'  Where  is  thy  brother  ?'  Nations  and  individuals  have 
dared  to  answer,  '  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?'  and  they, 
daring,  have  been  cast  out  and  overthrown.  Their  epitaph 
may  always  be  read,  '  He  was  not  here  as  one  who  served.' 
The  Almighty  has  declared  His  will  amid  thunder  and 
lightning,  by  the  decline  and  fall  of  nations,  in  the  strife  of 
war  and  in  the  despair  of  the  fallen,  but  He  has  let  His  will 
reach  us  through  Christ.  By  the  pressure  of  that  presence 
each  man  is  drawn  to  love ;  by  the  voice  which  speaks  to  him 
as  to  an  individual,  he  is  summoned  to  serve  his  neighbour; 
by  a  call  which  is  directed  straight  to  himself  and  to  no 
other,  he  is  sent  to  do  his  work.  God  reaches  the  indi- 
vidual through  His  Son,  and  through  the  individual  comes 
universal  happiness. 

We,  men  and  w^omen,  individuals  distinct  in  thought, 
feeling,  and  experience,  stand  amid  the  unemployed, 
'the  vast  army  of  the  homeless  and  unfed.'  Our  hearts 
are  moved  by  the  sight  of  such  sorrow,  and  our  anger 
is  roused  that  such  starvation  should  be  in  the  midst 
of  plenty.  '  Why,'  we  ask,  '  do  these  little  ones  suffer  ?' 
'  Why  are  these  desolate  and  unfriended  ?'  '  Why  are  there 
so  many  weak,  vicious  and  bitter  ?'  '  Surely  they  who  by 
their  selfishness  have  caused  these  things  shall  be  punished.' 
Who  are  they  ?  A  voice  which  whispers  to  each  of  us, 
'  Thou  art  the  man  !'  is  the  voice  of  God. 


WOMEN'S  WORK. 

BY    THE 

REV.  E.  HOSKYNS, 

RECTOR     OF     STEPNEY. 

'■Son,    behold  thy   itwther.'—ST. 
John  xix.  27. 

APPROACH  the  subject  with  one  or  two  prelimi- 
nary questions. 
What  is  our  idea  of  woman  ? 
Subdivide  : 

a.  What  is  an  employer's  idea  of  woman  ? 

b.  What  is  a  working  man's  idea  of  woman  ? 

c.  What  is  woman's  idea  of  woman  ? 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  answer  such  questions;  but 
when  one  reads  such  a  Blue-book  as  that  lately  issued  on 
women's  work,  the  question  is  forced  home  again  and  again  : 
What  has  an  employer  passing  through  his  mind  when  he 
seems  by  his  action  to  say,  '  I  must  have  this  or  that  for 
men,  but  anything  is  good  enough  for  women— any  wages, 
any  hours,  any  standard  of  comfort,  any  sanitation '  ? 

Or,  again,  what  is  passing  through  the  minds  of  our  work- 
ing men,  even  our  trades  unionists,  when  they  fight  for  their 
own  hand  and  grasp  their  eight-hours  day  or  forty-eight  hours 
a  week,  but  let  their  young  daughters  slave  for  seventy-four 
to  eighty  hours,  and  their  wives  needle-drive  until  eleven  and 
twelve  at  night  ? 

And  yet  once  more,  what  is  woman's  idea  of  woman, 
when   she  seems   to  hug  the    position    into    which    she  is 


92  WOMEN'S  WORK 

placed,  and  take  as  her  due  the  office  of  hewer  of  wood 
and  drawer  of  water,  or  that  of  a  scolded  housekeeper,  not 
a  wife  ?  How  soon  this  acceptance  of  a  low  standard  leads 
to  all  loss  of  modesty  and  true  womanhood  we  know  too 
well. 

Generally  speaking,  I  assert  that  man's  view  of  woman  is' 
low,  and  that  you  will  see  the  effect  of  such  a  view  most 
clearly  in  the  conditions  under  which  man  is  willing  that 
woman  should  work.  True  that  we  want  laws ;  but  above 
all  we  want  '  gentlemen,'  and  that  not  confined  to  any  class 
or  rank,  but  managers,  husbands,  foremen,  officials,  whose 
conduct  is  considerate  and  gentle  towards  woman. 

It  is  our  duty  as  men — it  ought  to  be  our  pride— to  guard 
women  against  the  crushing  weight  of  manufactural  stress. 
For  us  to  seize  the  advantages,  and  to  place  woman  as  a 
buffer  to  bear  the  burdens  and  to  receive  into  her  bosom 
all  the  sharpest  pangs  of  labour-pressure — this  is  beneath 
contempt. 

Brothers,  for  a  moment  let  us  consider  various  reasons 
why,  when  we  ask  woman  to  work  for  us,  we  should  be 
considerate. 

I.  What  a  debt  of  gratitude  we  owe  to  woman,  and  this 
quite  apart  from  her  position  as  mother  ! 

Think  of  that  wonderful  profession  for  women — the  nurses 
of  our  childhood,  the  daughters  of  our  working  men — so 
faithful,  so  patient,  so  noble  in  their  self-denial ! 

Or,  again,  call  to  mind  that  army  of  teachers  into  whose 
hands  is  given  the  moulding  of  our  children,  and  destined 
to  become  even  still  more  the  guardians  of  our  boys  in  the 
lower  standards  of  our  boys'  schools. 

Or,  again,  have  we  no  feelings  of  gratitude  as  we  remember 
that  noble  profession  of  deaconness  and  sister,  of  nurses 
in  hospital,  in  home,  in  parish,  bringing  to  the  sick  and 
wearied  of  our  cities  not  only  skill,  but  oftentimes  a  love 
which  these  poor  men  have,  as  they  say,  never  tasted  before? 
Or,  when  we  look  out  on  the  great  world  of  commerce,  in 


WOMEN'S  WORK  93 

counting-house,  in  work-room,  in  factory,  what  a  place  must 
we  give  to  women  !  See  them  streaming  from  every  street 
converging  on  the  City,  hear  the  clang  of  the  wooden 
shoon  in  the  North,  all  adding  to  the  national  wealth,  all 
serving  us  men  in  ways  which  touch  us  at  every  point,  and 
then  say  whether  gratitude  is  not  deserved. 

2.  But  gratitude  by  itself  will  not  survive  the  daily  rush 
and  turmoil  of  the  factory.  Your  young  employer,  your 
anxious  foreman,  only  sees  hands,  hands,  hands— not  a  face, 
not  a  body,  not  a  life,  which  can  grow  weary ;  but  hands 
which  are  nimble  and  do  the  work  quickly,  and  grasp  less 
on  the  Saturday  than  the  hand  of  a  man. 

It  is  not  reason  to  expect  that  gratitude  is  enough  here, 
and  so  we  appeal  to  men  for  sympathy.  We  ask  men,  and 
especially  employers  of  labour,  working  men,  and  the 
purchasing  public,  to  remember  the  simple  fact  that  woman 
is  physically  weaker  than  man  for  that  kind  of  labour  too 
often  put  upon  her,  and  that  the  results  of  overstrain  are 
far  more  terrible  in  the  case  of  woman.  Hence,  from  an 
economic  view,  the  folly  of  bad  conditions,  long  hours,  low 
wages,  all  tending  to  lower  the  producing  power.  But  surely 
sympathy  becomes  the  more  necessary  when  we  recollect 
that  woman,  in  addition  to  all  her  natural  weakness  and 
greater  proneness  to  pain,  is  called  also  to  be  the  mother  of 
mankind  !  Here  is  a  national  question,  then,  of  prime  im- 
portance, affecting  the  national  life  in  a  marked  degree. 
For  this  reason  do  we  demand  that  sympathy  for  woman 
should  penetrate  even  into  the  secret  chambers  of  Boards 
and  of  Cabinets. 

Who,  then,  will  not  sympathize  with  the  young  girl  in 
that  drapery  establishment  ?  You  look  in  early  in  the  morn- 
ing ;  there  she  is,  standing  and  arranging  the  goods,  after 
lifting  down  heavy  weights  quite  beyond  her  strength.  In 
the  afternoon,  still  in  the  same  position  ;  at  6,  still  stand- 
ing; at  8.30,  still  standing;  on  Saturday  at  9,  10,  n,  still 
standing ;  and  then  look  at  her  anaemic  face,  and  ask  your- 


94  WOMEN'S   WORK 

self,  What  is  the  real  reason  that  allows  such  conditions 
to  be  in  force  ?  And  so  I  might  take  you,  had  I  the  time, 
through  factory  and  restaurant,  through  laundry  and  white- 
lead  works,  and  into  the  homes  of  our  home-workers,  at 
II,  12,  and  I  at  night.  I  might  show  you  the  brightest 
instances  of  factories  and  workrooms,  where  all  is  well ;  but 
I  might  read  to  you  pages  of  evidence  revealing  the  circum- 
stances under  which  our  women  work,  where  nothing  is 
done  except  by  compulsion ;  where  every  advantage  is 
taken  of  the  weakness  of  women  ;  where  ordinary  decency 
is  impossible;  where  all  the  instincts  of  womanhood  are 
crushed,  and  woman  is  treated  as  a  cheap  machine. 

But  it  is  not  only,  or  especially,  the  weakness  of  woman 
which  appeals,  or  should  appeal,  to  the  true  manliness  of 
man.  It  is  the  great  fact  that  woman  is  called  to  the  high 
office  of  wife  and  mother  (the  real  mother,  who  not  only 
bears  but  rears  the  child),  and  in  this  capacity,  Ruskin 
says,  is  the  great  producer  of  wealth. 

*  It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone ;  I  will  make  him  an 
helpmeet  for  him.'  And  the  man  is  to  say,  *  This  is  now 
bone  of  my  bone  and  flesh  of  my  flesh.  Therefore  shall  a 
man  leave  his  father  and  mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his 
wife,  and  they  shall  be  one  flesh.'  Back  to  this  primitive 
law  of  marriage,  after  the  intervening  period  of  polygamy, 
Christ  brings  us,  and  Christianity,  if  it  is  true  to  the  Master, 
will  go  up  to  the  fountain-head  of  social  life,  casting  salt  in 
there,  checking  all  license,  and  placing  woman  in  her  right 
and  lawful  position — the  partner  and  companion  of  man. 
And  because  of  this  high  vocation  of  woman,  we  men  are 
called  upon  to  show  'gentle  consideration'  towards  the 
wife. 

But  surely  our  duty  lies  beyond  our  own  home.  You 
cannot  as  a  Churchman  or  a  citizen  look  out  upon  the 
homes  of  our  people,  you  cannot  as  employers  arrange 
your  business,  with  eyes  closed  to  this  great  factor  in  the 
matter. 


WOMEN'S  WORK 


95 


What  shall  we  say,  then,  as  to  methods  and  systems  which 
make  it  all  but  impossible  to  produce  happy  wives  or  healthy 
mothers  ?  To  a  great  extent  a  happy  home  depends  upon 
health  ;  but  to  how  many  of  our  young  wives  health  has 
gone  ere  marriage  comes  !  In  two  or  three  years  they  are 
the  jaded,  wearied  mothers,  with  hardly  spirit  to  clean  the 
home  or  tend  the  children.  No  wonder  that  the  children 
are  poor  little  weaklings,  dwarfed  in  body  and  warped  in 
mind,  a  danger  to  the  State,  a  dishonour  to  God  ! 

And,  if  rightly  understood,  how  will  this  question  affect 
the  attitude  of  working  men?  More  and  more  they  will 
find  that  it  is  far  better  to  have  a  clean  home  and  mothered 
children,  than  a  home  dirty  and  neglected,  children  untidy 
and  disobedient,  because  the  wife  works  at  the  factory.  In 
many  places  both  masters  and  men  agree  that  married 
women  shall  not  continue  in  the  factory ;  but  in  too  many 
places  still  the  wives  of  men  who  are  earning  large  wages 
continue  to  work,  and  so  neglect  their  homes,  forsake  their 
children,  and  too  often  create  a  loafing  and  lazy  manhood, 
only  too  pleased  to  be  idle  and  to  live  on  the  hard-earned 
wages  of  the  wife. 

I  say  this  is  to  sap  the  very  root  of  national  health  and 
wealth,  and  is  to  follow  the  base  example  of  some  of  our 
high-born  mothers  at  the  other  end  of  the  social  scale,  who 
cannot  brook  the  delay  necessary  for  the  feeding  and  care 
of  their  child,  so  strong  is  the  claim  that  society  has  upon 
them.  The  punishment  to  all  mothers,  of  all  classes,  is 
sure  and  bitter.  Too  often  they  never  taste  of  the  joy  of  a 
true  mother's  love ;  they  never  receive  a  child's  devotion ; 
children  never  rise  up  to  call  them  blessed,  for  their  mothers 
spurned  them  from  their  bosoms,  and  forgat  their  work. 

To  preserve,  then,  the  high  place  accorded  to  woman  will 
be  the  care  of  all  men,  especially  those  in  authority.  The 
nation  will  do  everything  to  preserve  the  home,  and  the 
Church  will  arouse  the  consciences  of  all  her  sons  to  bear 
in  mind  the  sanctity,  the  grace  of  marriage. 


96  WOMEN'S  WORK 

And  yet  once  more,  as  we  ask  why  we  should  respect 
and  consider  woman,  it  is  enough  for  us  who  are  gathered 
together  to-day  under  the  aegis  of  a  union  which  boasts  the 
name  of  Christian,  to  call  to  remembrance  the  great  fact 
that  He  whom  we  love  and  worship  as  God  was  l^orn  of 
woman — Mary,  the  Mother  of  Jesus  ! 

Before  this  mystery  we  men  bow  our  heads.  We  were 
not  called  to  share  in  that  marvellous  childhood. 

We  only  can  stand  at  a  distance  and  catch  the  words 
of  Gabriel  as  he  announces  to  the  Virgin  Mary  the  great 
doctrine  which  the  Church  exists  to  proclaim,  '  Hail,  thou 
that  art  highly  favoured,  the  Lord  is  with  thee  :  blessed  art 
thou  amongst  women.  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon 
thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Highest  shall  overshadow  thee ; 
therefore  that  holy  thing  which  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall 
be  called  the  Son  of  God.' 

Or  we  shall  listen  to  that  great  vesper  hymn  as  it  welled 
forth  from  the  heart  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  Magnificat^ 
proclaiming  as  it  does  not  only  the  rights  of  man,  but  the 
emancipation  of  woman. 

Or,  and  this  would  be  well,  we  will  catch  of  the  spirit  of 
Joseph,  who  in  the  midst  of  doubt  and  disappointment  saw 
that  it  was  his  highest  office  as  a  man  and  a  husband  to 
guard  woman  and  wife  from  the  slanders  and  the  dangers  of 
the  world. 

How  natural,  then,  that  we  should  to-day  bring  that  honour 
and  reverence  which  is  due  to  the  Mother  of  our  Lord  !  But 
we  cannot  stay  there.  Thoughts  of  her  will  lead  us  to  view 
all  women  differently,  and  we  shall  take  to  ourselves  the 
solemn  charge  with  a  new  meaning :  '  Son,  behold  thy 
mother.' 

Do  you  say, '  Ah,  this  is  fanciful  and  idealistic  '?  We,  too, 
like  to  contemplate  the  Madonna  and  Holy  Child,  but  go 
and  see  that  stream  of  jam-factory  girls ;  listen  to  the 
language  of  those  match  girls  ;  do  you  see  those  rag-sorters  ? 
Yes,  I  do  see  them  ;  and  just  because  I  have  known  many 


WOMEN'S  WORK  97 

of  them,  and  just  because  it  has  been  my  lot  to  be  acquainted 
with  women  who  have  risen  above  all  the  miserable  con- 
ditions under  which  they  have  worked,  I  am  able  to  say 
that  there  is  no  reason  for  such  miserable  pessimism,  and  that 
the  sights  and  sounds  which  too  often  haunt  us  are  the  direct 
outcome  of  the  inconsiderateness  of  man. 

And  if  you  say,  Well,  then,  be  practical,  and  put  laws 
upon  the  Statute  Book;  I  reply,  By  all  means  put  them  there, 
but  for  God's  sake  keej>  them.  Send  inspectors  and  inspec- 
tresses.     Yes,  do,  especially  the  latter  ;  but  what  then  ? 

You  have  got  some  better  conditions,  and  you  have  got, 
and  that  is  what  we  want,  knowledge  ;  but,  then,  we  require 
the  voice  of  the  Church  to  arouse  the  consciences  of  our 
men,  and  to  awaken  in  their  breasts  true  Christian  chivalry. 

It  is  here  that  it  appears  to  me  we  need  a  loud  and 
clear  call.  It  is  man's  duty  to  be  to  the  front  in  defending 
woman. 

Trades  union  men  must  fight  the  battle,  not  for  them- 
selves, but  for  the  women.  Better  for  them  to  be  slower  in 
winning  their  own  ends  than  to  leave  woman  in  the  rear  of 
the  labour  movement  to  be  harassed  and  maltreated. 

Is  there  no  truth  in  the  words  of  a  mother  in  my  parish, 
as  I  entered  a  room  and  found  her  at  tea  with  her  son  at 
6.30?  '  There's  my  daughter  goes  out  an  hour  before  him, 
and  comes  back  an  hour  and  a  half  after  him,  and  gets  los. 
less  ;  but  the  men  are  so  selfish.' 

It  is  not  laws  only  but  true  religion  which  is  needed  here, 
something  which  will  inspire  all  men  with  true  nobility  of 
character,  and  make  them  true  knights  of  labour.  Oh,  we 
want  in  our  great  Christian  society  to-day  another  great 
baptismal  question,  '  Will  you  train  up  this  boy  to  respect 
woman  ?'  to  be  pressed  home  in  confirmation,  '  Will  you 
promise  in  every  way  possible  to  respect  woman  ?' 

I  have  held  this  morning  that  the  question  of  the  con- 
ditions under  which  women  work  resolves  itself  into  the 
question.  What  does  man  think  of  woman  ?  and  I  affirmed  that 

7 


98  WOMEN'S  WORK 

man's  idea  of  woman  is  low.  I  dare  not  close  my  subject 
without  clenching  the  argument,  and  proving  it  to  the 
hilt. 

What  shall  we  say  of  man's  cruelty  and  meanness  as  he 
creates  that  ghastly  profession  of  the  harlot  ?  Man,  too 
selfish  to  marry,  enjoying  the  independence,  the  luxury 
of  his  club,  yet  takes  advantage  of  woman's  position,  and, 
her  natural  guardian,  wilfully  betrays  her. 

Here  is  England's  curse,  to  which  drunkenness  is  nothing. 

But  the  question  which  I  want  to  ask  is  this.  What  is 

the  connection  between  low  wages  and  immorality  ?      Is 

work  given  out  at  an  abominable  wage  because  it  is  known 

that  it  can  be  done,  for  other  wages  are  earned  ? 

Undoubtedly  there  are  cases  where  an  employer  ought  to 
say,  'Seeing  the  condition  of  my  employes,  I  must  either 
raise  the  wages  and  take  from  them  their  awful  temptation, 
or  I  must  close  the  works.' 

Or,  again,  do  women  ever  say,  '  I  can  undersell  another 
woman,  and  carry  out  that  order  at  a  starvation  price, 
because  those  wages  are  not  all  I  earn  ?' 

Then,  I  say,  all  honour  to  any  society,  any  union,  any 
legislation,  which  says,  '  This  shall  not  be.' 

Do  I  lift  the  veil  here  in  a  dark  spot?  I  must  go  lower 
still,  where  woman  is  still  more  at  the  mercy  of  man,  and 
where  we  can  still  better  gauge  his  real  opinion  of  woman. 

Come  away  from  that  abominable  scene  in  central  London 
every  night  in  the  year  (a  scene  which  by  itself  proves  my 
point) ;  leave  the  sham  gaiety  of  it  all,  follow  me.  Come  up 
these  dirty  stairs  in  that  back  street,  knock  at  the  door,  and 
behold  that  girl  lying  there,  soon  to  be  the  victim  of  con- 
sumption. She  still  struggles  out,  but  now  with  thick  veil. 
'  She  must  live,'  she  cries,  or  as  one  said  to  me  last  week, 
'I  don't  mean  mother  to  go  into  the  workhouse.' 

But  ask  her  her  history.  It  is  the  history  of  many 
members  of  one  of  the  largest  branches  of  women's  pro- 
fessions. 


WOMEN'S  WORK  99 

*  I  was  a  servant,  and  I  fell  through  my  master,'  or  his  son. 
I  am  speaking  within  bounds  and  within  knowledge  when 
I  say  that  domestic  servants  suffer  most  at  the  hands  of  men, 
cruel  and  unscrupulous  in  their  conduct. 

Why  cannot  we  men,  whose  talk  is  now  so  constantly  upon 
social  questions,  begin  where  it  is  possible  to-day  ? 

Are  we  really  in  earnest,  or  are  we  merely  pandering  to  a 
mere  cry  which  is  for  the  moment  popular  ?  To-day,  to-day, 
we  might  stay  the  tears  of  many  a  wounded  soul,  and  check 
the  early  death  of  many  a  wounded  body,  if  only  we  would 
accept  the  Master's  charge,  to  defend  and  honour  woman. 

Only  one  word  would  I  add,  a  word  of  encouragement. 
It  is  not  all  dark.  It  is  the  very  excellence  of  many  work- 
shops and  factories  which  enables  us  to  see  what  is  possible 
and  whets  our  appetite  for  more  of  such. 

Again  and  again  do  I  receive  evidence  of  the  genuine 
interest  taken  in  girls  in  the  City.  Where  do  we  clergy  in 
the  East  End  and  in  our  Northern  towns  look  for  Sunday- 
school  teachers,  and  even  visitors  ?  It  is  to  those  who  seem 
to  have  triumphed  over  all  difficulties,  and  have  gained 
through  their  very  trials  a  strong  independence  of  character. 
In  tone,  in  strength  of  will,  they  call  forth  our  admiration, 
and  as  wives  and  mothers  become  our  one  hope  in  the  midst 
often  of  dreary  and  depressing  surroundings. 

And  as  woman  is  more  and  more  demanding  from  us  men 
the  respect  due  to  her,  as  she  is  refusing  to  be  treated  as  the 
mere  sport  and  toy  of  men,  let  us  men  rise  also  to  our  office, 
and  together  with  them  labour  for  a  brighter  and  purer 
citizenship. 


SPECULATION. 

BY   THE 

REV.  WILFRID  RICHMOND, 

AUTHOR     OF     'economic     MORALS, 


*  If  any  would  not  work,  neither 
should  he  eat'— 2  Thess.  iii.  10. 


WHY  not  ?  If  he  could  get  anyone  to  feed  him 
for  nothing,  why  should  he  not  accept  the 
gift  and  be  thankful  ?  St.  Paul  was  appealing 
to  a  principle  recognised  among  the  Jews, 
a  principle  to  which  he  had  already  appealed  before. 
In  a  country  which  bred  parasites,  those  who  were  content 
to  feed  on  the  bounty  of  the  great  or  of  their  friends,  the 
Christian  Church  had  its  parasites,  too — parasites  on  the 
organized  charity  of  her  social  life.  St.  Paul  had  already 
invoked  the  Jewish  maxim,  famihar  to  himself  and  other 
Jews,  that  if  any  would  not  work  neither  should  he  eat. 

The  maxim  is  no  less  recognised  among  ourselves.  We, 
too,  attempt  so  to  organize  our  charity — though  there  is  not 
quite  so  much  of  it  to  organize — we,  too,  try  to  avoid  any 
violation  of  the  principle,  that  if  any  man  will  not  work 
neither  shall  he  eat.  But  it  is  worth  while  asking — why 
not  ?  Why  do  we  think  it  wrong  that  a  man  should  eat 
without  working ?  Why  is  'parasite'  a  term  of  reproach? 
It  is  not  merely  that  work  is  a  good  thing  in  itself.  If  a 
man  were  offered  the  choice  between  life  in  a  lazy,  lotus- 
eating  land,  where  no  labour  was  needed  to  gain  the  means 
of  living,  and  a  life  which  would  employ  the  energies  of  body 


SPECULATION  loi 

and  of  mind,  and  would  give  him  the  same  provision  for 
his  needs  as  the  reward,  we  should  despise  the  man  who 
chose  the  lazy  rather  than  the  active  life.  But  this  is  not 
the  reproach  against  the  parasite.  We  blame  the  parasite, 
not  because  he  is  lazy,  but  because  he  is  a  fraud.  He  eats 
without  working  ;  he  gets  without  giving. 

We  acknowledge,  then,  in  one  part  of  our  social  life,  this 
principle.  If  you  get  without  giving,  you  are  a  fraud  on 
society.  Without  giving — not  merely  without  working.  If 
a  man  digs  a  hole  in  the  earth  and  fills  it  up  again,  that,  in 
fact,  is  not  work.  We  do  not  call  work  '  work '  unless  it  is 
work  for  which  someone  is  the  better.  The  principle  on  which 
we  blame  the  parasite  is  this — you  have  no  right  to  take 
from  society,  or  from  any  individual,  the  means  of  Hfe,  unless 
it  be  in  return  for  something  by  which  they  are  the  gainers. 
For  the  moment,  and  for  this  particular  purpose,  it  does  not 
matter  whether  we  look  at  the  question  from  the  social  point 
of  view,  and  say  a  man  has  no  right  to  his  share  of  the  pro- 
duce of  the  common  labour  unless  he  has  done  his  part 
in  the  common  labour ;  or  whether  we  say  a  man  has  no 
right  to  take  from  the  individual  man  what  belongs  to  him 
unless  he  has  given  him  something  in  exchange.  Either 
way  of  putting  it  leaves  us  the  same  question  to  be  addressed 
to  those  who  live  by  any  given  occupation.  You  eat : 
what  is  your  work  ?  You  get  :  what  do  you  give  ?  Is  the 
society  in  or  on  which  you  live  any  the  better  for  you? 
Does  the  individual  who  contributes  to  your  income  get 
anything  in  return  ?     Or  2iXQyou  a  parasite  ? 

And  the  question  is  to  be  asked,  obviously,  not  of  those 
only  who  derive  their  whole  income  from  any  particular 
source  that  may  be  in  question,  but  as  to  any  part  of  a 
man's  income  it  may  be  asked.  Is  it  the  reward  of  work  ? 
What  has  been  given  for  it  ?  Let  us  take  one  instance  in 
the  matter  that  is  before  us  to-day — speculation. 

We  clergy  are  said  to  be  not  averse  to  speculation.  Cer- 
tainly they  send  us  circulars  enough  as  to  speculative  invest- 


102  SPECULATION 

ments.  Take  the  case,  then,  of  a  country  parson.  His 
professional  income,  trom  tithe  or  glebe  land,  has  diminished. 
He  finds  himself  face  to  face  with  hopeless  difficulties. 
Very  likely  he  married  imprudently.  Very  likely  he  started 
in  life  with  college  debts.  Equip  him  with  all  the  vices 
necessary  to  heighten  the  colour  of  the  picture.  It  is  all 
his  fault — that  makes  him  the  more  disposed  to  run  a  risk. 
Anyhow,  one  morning,  he  leaves  his  parish  and  his  schools, 
he  looks  into  his  affairs,  he  sees  ruin  not  far  off.  And  that 
same  morning  there  has  arrived  a  very  tempting  circular. 
He  must  have  some  money  somehow ;  he  yields  to  the 
temptation  ;  he  sells  out  from  some  safe  investment ;  he 
runs  the  risk.  What  is  the  result  ?  He  loses,  you  say,  and 
he  deserves  to  be  called  a  fool  for  his  pains.  I  don't  care 
whether  he  loses  or  not.  I  want  to  know,  not  whether  he 
is  a  fool,  but  whether  he  is  a  knave.  Suppose  he  does  not 
lose,  but  gains.  What  is  the  result  then?  What  has  he 
done  ?  He  knows,  or  he  ought  to  know.  He  has  to  answer 
the  question  :  Where  did  the  money  come  from  ? — the 
money  which  he  must  have — somehow,  and  which  he  has 
got — somehow.  The  labourers  in  his  parish  live  on  their 
wages,  as  best  they  may,  and  week  by  week  leave  something 
done — something  by  -which  the  world,  or  their  small  corner 
of  it,  is  the  better  for  them.  The  farmer  Hves  off  his  farm  as 
best  he  may  ;  and  he,  too,  is  living  by  the  work  of  his  own 
hand  and  brain,  and  has' something  to  show  for  it,  some- 
thing for  which  he  is  paid.  The  village  shopkeeper  lives  by 
bringing  the  produce  of  the  labour  of  others  within  reach  of 
his  neighbours.  The  doctor  lives  by  ministering  to  the 
wants  of  others.  Hitherto  the  parson  himself  has  done  the 
same.  We  will  suppose  the  labourer  to  have  been  worthy 
of  his  hire.  The  squire — well,  there  are  several  ways  of  it 
with  the  squire.  He  may  be  well-to-do — though  he  is  not 
always  that — but  he  may  be  well-to-do,  and  yet  do  a  day's 
work  among  his  neighbours,  which  is  cheap  enough  at  the 
price  of  the  income  he  lives  on.     Or  he  may  do  nothing  in 


SPECULATION  103 

return  for  his  living,  and  in  that  case  the  parson  knows 
what  he  ought  to  have  told  him,  if  it  were  not  rather  diffi- 
cult to  tell — a  home-truth  or  so  out  of  the  Bible,  such  as 
this,  '  If  any  man  would  not  work,  neither  should  he  eat.' 

There  may  be  a  banker  or  a  merchant  from  a  neighbour- 
ing town,  who,  if  the  parson  had  gone  to  him  in  his  diffi- 
culties, would  have  given  him — most  excellent  advice,  not  to 
risk  his  money  in  investments  which  he  knew  nothing  about. 
It  may  be  that  he  is  plainly  living  on  the  fruit  of  labour  by 
which  the  world  has  gained,  and  in  that  case  he,  too,  adds 
to  the  rebuke ;  or  it  may  be  that  he  made  his  money — some- 
how, and  in  that  case  the  parson  will  not  feel  much  the  better 
for  being  morally  in  the  same  boat  with  him. 

But  the  life  in  the  midst  of  which  he  lives  teaches  him 
that,  in  yielding  to  the  desire  to  get  money  without  regard  to 
where  it  comes  from,  he  has  yielded  to  the  desire  to  get 
money  without  giving  anything  in  return,  and  that  the 
question,  where  the  money  has  come  from,  can  only  be 
answered  by  saying  that  it  has  come  out  of  someone  else's 
pocket.  To  get  money  somehow,  anyhow  —  that  is  the 
passion  to  which  speculation  appeals.  There  may  be  cases 
with  speculation,  as  with  gambling,  where  the  money  is  not 
the  attraction,  but  the  excitement — the  chance — like  the 
pleasure  of  a  strong  swimmer  bathing  in  a  stormy  sea.  Men 
delight  in  exercising  their  faculties,  in  being  equal  to  emer- 
gencies, in  calculating  chances,  in  providing  for  and  meeting 
contingencies.  There  may  be  cases  where  it  is  no  conscious 
principle  to  gain  by  the  loss  of  others.  The  gambler  and 
the  speculator  alike,  taking  them  in  the  mass,  are  full  of  the 
passion  for  money,  and  do  gain,  and  know  that  they  gain, 
by  the  loss  of  others,  and  by  the  loss  of  others  only.  But 
the  passion  which  is  really  characteristic  of  the  gambler  and 
speculator  alike  is  the  love  of  chance — the  delight  in  a 
world  where  law  is  not.  And  the  professional  gambler  and 
speculator  lives  on  a  milder  form  of  this  passion  which 
prevails  among  the  mass  of  mankind — the  desire  to  make 


104  SPECULATION 

money  apart  from  the  one  law  which  regulates  gain — the 
law  of  justice  ;  the  law  of  quid  pro  quo  ;  the  desire  to  make 
money  somehow,  anyhow. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  on  any  question  as  to  whether 
interest  on  invested  money  is  ever  rightly  earned.  We  may 
leave  that  question,  at  least  for  the  sake  of  argument,  on  the 
footing  that  you  have  the  same  right  to  a  continued  and 
progressively  increasing  reward  for  past  labour,  when  you 
hand  on  the  use  of  the  fruit  of  past  labour  to  another  instead 
of  keeping  it  yourself  And  if  investment  is  allowed,  a 
market  for  investments  is  allowed,  and  the  merchant  of 
stocks  earns  his  living  as  justly  as  the  merchant  of  cloth  or 
of  bread.  But  speculation  in  stocks  and  trade  in  stocks 
are  two  different  things.  They  shade  off  into  one  another 
as  night  into  day ;  but  we  know  night  from  day  all  the  same, 
and  trade  from  speculation.  And  the  simple  question  to  be 
asked  about  speculation  is  this  :  You  are  reaping  a  reward  ; 
have  you  rendered  a  service  ? 

No  doubt  it  is  possible  to  put  cases  which  it  would  be 
very  difficult  to  bring  under  the  rule — cases  where  the  specu- 
lator, following  the  precedent  of  Joseph  in  Egypt,  foresees 
and  provides  for  a  future  contingency,  benefits  society,  and 
has  earned  by  his  foresight  the  further  benefit  which  he  gains 
for  himself.  To  any  such  difficulties  I  would  answer,  first, 
that  religion  and  morality  deal  with  motives,  and  that  the 
question  is :  Are  you  yielding  to  the  passion  for  making 
money  by  calculating  the  chances  of  time  ?  Are  you  yield- 
ing to  the  passion  for  making  money,  somehow,  anyhow,  in- 
dependently of  any  question  whether  you  have  earned  it  or 
not  ?  And  I  would  answer,  secondly.  For  the  present  I  will 
be  quite  content  to  leave  the  doubtful  cases.  Deal  with  the 
cases  where  there  is  no  doubt.  Set  to  yourself  this  ques- 
tion, How  do  I  make  the  income  I  live  on?  At  the 
expense  of  those  with  whom  I  deal,  or  as  the  reward  for 
some  service  I  have  rendered  them  ?  Every  bargain  ought 
to  be  to  the  benefit  of  both  parties  to  the  bargain.     We 


SPECULATION  105 

need  not  be  too  nice  about  who  gets  the  best  of  the  bargain 
— the  larger  share  of  the  benefit.  The  man  with  whom  you 
deal  wouldn't  deal  at  all  unless  he  thought  he  got  some 
benefit.  You  keep  the  books  of  your  business.  There  are 
duplicate  books  elsewhere.  All  that  you  receive  is  entered 
there  the  same.  Your  receipts,  your  income  has  been  just 
what  you  have  entered  yourself.  But  in  the  duplicate  books 
I  speak  of  the  opposite  page  will  be  a  blank  wherever  you 
have  received  and  given  no  real  return.  And  the  man  with 
whom  this  has  been  so  has  been  a  parasite  and  hypocrite 
as  well,  deceiving  the  world,  deceiving  himself,  but  not 
deceiving  the  judgment  of  God. 

Or  set  to  yourself  this  deeper  question.  Here  is  the 
passion,  the  poison,  of  speculation  exposed.  It  means  de- 
frauding your  neighbours.  It  means  gaining  without  giving. 
It  means,  in  however  exalted  a  fashion,  living  by  your  wits. 
The  passion  itself,  the  desire  to  make  money,  somehow, 
anyhow,  is  a  passion  widely  spread.  Is  it  in  you  ?  Is  it  a 
poison  in  your  life  ?  Is  it  a  curse  on  your  business  ?  We 
have  seen  the  evil  of  it  writ  large  of  late.  We  have  seen  it 
as  the  inspiration  of  villainy.  We  have  seen  it  as  some 
relentless  monster  of  vice,  feeding  on  the  virtues  of  simpli- 
city and  thrift  and  trust,  spreading  piteous  ruin  among  the 
poor,  the  helpless,  and  the  weak.  What  was  the  soul  of 
this  vast  and  bloated  fraud  ?  You  have  joined  the  chorus 
of  abhorrence  and  condemnation.  What  have  you  con- 
demned? I?o  you  abhor,  shrink  from,  in  yourself,  in  your  own 
life,  in  your  own  business,  the  motive  that  was  at  work  ?  In 
the  development  of  trade  and  industry  in  the  last  hundred 
years  great  fortunes  have  been  made  before  our  eyes,  as  it 
seemed,  by  chance,  by  luck,  without  labour,  almost  without 
time.  Our  fancy  catches  at  the  instances  of  this.  Our  imagi- 
nation is  impressed.  We  dream  of  fortunes,  and  then  this 
desire,  this  passion,  lays  hold  of  us,  for  money  unearned,  for 
money  that  is  somehow  to  come  to  us.  The  man  who  walked 
through  his  vineyard  and  saw  across  the  fence  his  neighbour's 


io6  SPECULATION 

vineyard,  and  desired  to  have  it,  was  a  frankly  covetous  man. 
It  is  possible  to  be  equally  covetous  without  being  equally 
frank.  If  you  desire  wealth,  and  mean  to  earn  it,  you 
desire  the  gift  of  God,  according  to  the  laws  by  which  He 
gives  it,  the  laws  of  labour  and  of  justice.  But  if  you  desire 
wealth  that  shall  come  to  you  without  the  need  of  labour  or 
the  award  of  justice,  you  are  only  turning  your  back  on  the 
fence,  you  are  coveting  just  the  same.  And  if  you  gain 
what  you  desire,  there  are  only  two  ways  in  which  you  can 
gain  it — you  can  gain  it  from  God  as  the  reward  of  labour, 
justly  paid  by  your  neighbour,  who  shares  with  you  the 
multipHed  fruit  of  the  labours  which  God  so  rewards ;  or 
you  may  gain  it  by  what  are,  in  fact,  nothing  else  than  the 
old  and  tried  methods  of  the  covetous  man,  falsehood  and 
robbery  and  wrong.  Is  this  disguised  covetousness  at  work 
in  you  ?  Are  you  tainted  by  the  poison  ?  Are  you  content 
to  earn  money,  and  in  your  business  to  walk  in  the  ways  of 
God,  who  multiplies  His  gifts  to  men?  Or  are  you  not 
content  with  the  multipHed  gifts  of  God  ?  Are  you  seeking 
to  escape  into  a  world  where  there  is  no  God  and  no  law, 
but  only  chance  ?  The  choice  does  not  lie  between  God 
and  chance,  but  between  God  and  the  devil.  And  the  first 
and  last  word  to  be  said  about  speculation  is  this  :  In  its 
first  beginnings,  in  the  wild  dream  of  fortune,  in  the  instinc- 
tive longing  for  enrichment,  no  less  truly  than  in  the  intri- 
cate and  unscrupulous  schemes  of  a  deliberately  fraudulent 
undertaking,  it  is  nothing  else  but  the  desire  to  gain  what 
you  have  not  earned.  It  means,  if  you  attempt  it,  that  you 
throw  off  the  rule  of  God.  It  means,  if  you  succeed,  that 
you  rob  your  fellow-men. 

'  What  am  I  to  do  ?  You  are  preaching  against  a 
system,  and  you  are  preaching  to  individuals  entangled 
in  the  system,  unable  to  shake  themselves  free  and  to 
take  a  line  of  their  own.'  I  know  that  it  is  so.  I  know 
of  men  of  business  who  have  come  to  the  clergy  and 
said,  '  I  cannot  become  a  communicant ;  the  methods  on 


SPECULATION  107 

which  my  business  is  conducted  forbid  it.'  I  know  of 
young  men  starting  in  life,  boys  who  have  been  prepared  for 
Confirmation,  who  have  come  to  the  clergy  and  said,  '  All 
that  you  have  told  me  I  see  to  be  good,  but  when  my  chief 
gives  me  instructions  which  go  against  the  laws  of  justice 
and  truth,  what  am  I  to  do  ?' 

Exoriare  aliquis  !  Oh  for  a  voice  to  rouse  the  conscience, 
not  of  an  individual  here  and  there,  but  of  a  community — to 
rouse  a  collective  conscience,  quite  content  with  a  generally 
diffused  dishonesty,  under  cover  of  an  occasional  outburst 
of  hysterical  indignation  against  offenders  sufficiently  flagrant 
to  be  found  out.  What  are  you  to  do?  Thank  God  at 
least  that  He  has  led  you  to  ask  the  question,  if  you  ask 
it  in  earnest.  Who  knows  how  near  we  may  be  to  the 
time  when  the  community  shall  turn  upon  the  system, 
and  say  this  is  not  to  be  endured,  and  shall  refuse 
to  enforce  the  payment  of  a  debt  where  it  cannot  equit- 
ably be  said  that  any  consideration  has  been  received? 
If  it  be  true  to  say  that  under  our  present  commercial 
system  the  individual  man  cannot  hope  in  many  kinds  of 
business  to  live  up  to  the  plain  standard  of  honesty  and 
truth,  one  need  not  be  much  of  a  socialist  to  say  that  here 
is  a  case  for  the  State  to  intervene  in  any  way  that  may  be 
possible.  One  need  not  be  much  of  a  prophet  to  say  that 
when  the  conscience  of  the  community  is  roused  to  appre 
ciate  the  facts,  the  remedy  will  not  be  far  away. 

But  meanwhile  what  are  you  to  do  ? 

Above  the  shifting  tides  of  City  life,  above  the  interlacing 
hurrying  crowds,  and  all  the  turmoil  and  confusion  of  the 
devices  and  desires  of  men,  on  the  top  of  the  great  dome 
of  St.  Paul's,  there  is  set  up  the  Cross  of  Christ.  Look  up 
to  it ;  think  what  it  means  of  loyalty  to  righteousness  and 
truth,  loyalty  at  any  sacrifice  and  at  any  cost,  and  tell  me — 
Could  any  minister  of  Christ,  speaking  of  what  we  com- 
monly call  speculation,  have  claimed  from  you  a  less,  a 
lower,  loyalty  to  the  eternal  laws  of  justice  and  right  than  I 


io8  SPECULATION 

have  claimed  to-day  ?  My  first  business  has  been  to  draw 
the  clear  line  between  right  and  wrong. 

And  having  done  that,  having  said  my  say  thus  far,  I  dare 
not  say  less  to  the  individual  man  than  this.  Here  is  the 
truth.  Argue  it  out  with  yourself.  Acknowledge  the  truth  ; 
set  your  face  towards  the  light,  and  move  towards  it  as  you 
may.  What  your  first  step  should  be,  and  when  you  should 
take  it,  I  cannot  tell  you.  Your  own  conscience  can.  Oh  for 
a  voice,  I  said,  to  rouse  the  conscience  of  the  community ! 
Oh  for  a  man,  rather,  to  see  and  do  the  right  whatever  may 
come  of  it !  It  may  be  there  is  little  you  can  do  at  once. 
Do  something,  at  least.  If  for  a  time  you  have  to  bow 
yourself  in  the  house  of  Mammon,  I  dare  not  tell  you, 
looking  up  to  the  Cross,  that  He  will  deny  you  before  His 
Father  which  is  in  heaven.  But  are  you  content  to  have  it 
so? 

We  are  close  on  Passion-tide.  It  is  the  time  of  all 
others  to  learn  courage.  I  do  not  plead  with  you  to  have 
the  courage  to  be  true  to  yourself  and  to  the  standard  of 
what  you  know  to  be  right.  I  do  not  plead  with  you  to 
recover  your  own  self-respect,  or  to  rise  to  an  abstract  standard 
of  righteousness  and  justice.  It  is  not  for  this  that  I  ask  you 
to  have  the  courage  to  live  by  what  you  know  to  be  the 
truth. 

I  plead  with  you  for  pity  on  the  poor  ]  the  wronged,  who 
often  do  not  know  that  they  are  wronged,  who  from  the 
midst  of  ruined  lives,  crying  out  against  the  hardness  of 
fate,  curse  God  and  die.  I  plead  with  you  for  those  who 
are  deluded — the  fools,  whom  those  who  are  wiser  pillage  and 
despise ;  less  fools,  perhaps,  than  they  who  all  along  have 
said  in  their  hearts.  There  is  chance ;  there  is  no  God.  I 
plead  with  you  for  those  who  may  perhaps  have  been  sinners 
like  yourselves,  in  that  they,  too,  wished  to  make  money 
anyhow  they  might,  but  sinners  not  against  the  same  degree 
of  light  as  you — rather  led  astray  by  you,  who  know  what 
business  is. 


SPECULATION  log 

I  ask  you  simply  to  take  the  stories  of  the  victims  of  the 
Liberator  frauds,  as  we  have  all  read  them,  and  to  say  to 
yourself,  This  and  the  like  of  this  is  going  on  every  day, 
not  always  on  the  same  scale,  not  always  with  the  same  de- 
gree of  flagrant  fraud,  but  in  the  essence  of  it  this  very 
thing  over  and  over  again.  On  the  one  hand  the  ignorant 
speculator,  often  not  even  knowing  that  he  is  a  speculator  at 
all,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  skilled  speculator,  knowing 
very  well  that  he  renders  neither  to  man  nor  God  any  service 
for  which  he  should  be  paid ;  and  the  pockets  of  the  ignorant 
speculator  are  emptied  that  the  pockets  of  his  wiser  brother 
may  be  filled. 

I  plead  with  you  to  say  for  yourself  that  you,  for  your 
part,  will  have  neither  part  nor  lot  in  such  a  system ;  that 
inch  by  inch,  as  you  see  your  opportunity,  you  will  fight  the 
battle  against  it — fight  for  pity  against  cruel  wrong ;  fight 
for  truth  against  the  falsehood  which  is  murdering  genera- 
tion after  generation  of  the  souls  of  the  young ;  fight  for 
justice,  to  make  the  honesty  of  English  commerce  as  much 
a  proverb  as  the  righteousness  of  English  rule. 


'SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS.' 

BY   THE 

REV.  R.  R.  DOLLING, 

HEAD   OF   WINCHESTER   COLLEGE   MISSION,    PORTSMOUTH. 

'  One  soweth,  and  another  reapeth.^ 
— John  iv.  38. 

GENTLEMEN,  I  must  begin  by  making  the  awful 
and  solemn  declaration  that  after  eighteen  cen- 
turies of  Christianity  the  object  of  the  'Prince  of 
Peace '  has  not  been  attained.  War  still  exists, 
and  therefore  it  is  necessary  to  speak  of  soldiers  and  sailors. 
But  the  Divine  Carpenter  will  have  His  revenge,  and  His 
revenge  will  be  complete  when  by  means  of  labour,  which 
He  emancipated  and  glorified,  war  shall  cease  throughout 
the  whole  world.  In  a  large  measure,  labour  is  already 
organized  in  England,  and  the  working  man  is  learning  day 
by  day  his  own  value,  but  this  is  at  best  but  a  partial  step 
towards  peace,  and  it  needs  that  the  English  example  should 
be  followed  upon  the  Continent,  and  the  movement  become 
cosmopolitan.  When  once  the  foreign  workman  has  realized 
his  own  powers — powers  which,  surely,  we  can  teach  him  can 
be  asserted  without  anarchy  and  the  disruption  of  society — 
when  shameful  wages  and  shameful  hours  and  the  abomin- 
able sweating  system,  depriving  men  of  the  fruits  of  their 
labours,  shall  have  ceased  universally,  as  they  have  begun  to 
cease  in  England,  then  the  patient  pleadings  of  the  Carpenter 
of  Nazareth  will  be  realized,  and  man — the  temporal  redeemer 
of  the  earth  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow — shall  refuse  to  be 


SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS  m 

manipulated  as  the  enemy  of  his  brethren,  either  in  the 
sweating  dens  of  financiers,  or  on  the  battle-fields,  or  in  the 
armies,  maintained  at  present  at  an  impossible  cost  by 
politicians  or  by  monarchs,  for  their  own  selfish  purpose. 

The  Carpenter  will  have  His  revenge,  and  therefore  it  is 
not  Utopian  to  suppose  that  a  day  will  come  when  war  shall 
cease. 

But  while  it  is  well  to  have  these  higher  ideals  before  us, 
it  is  certainly  foolish  not  to  look  things  in  the  face  and  realize 
what  they  are  at  the  present  moment.  And,  above  all,  it 
is  our  duty,  as  their  employers,  to  recognise  the  crushing 
evils  which  to-day  exist  among  our  soldiers  and  sailors. 

And  standing  in  the  very  centre  of  the  world's  market,  it 
is  well  for  us  to  confess  that  these  men  have  laboured,  and 
that  you,  the  merchants  of  England,  have  entered  into  their 
labours. 

There  is  not  a  single  vessel  in  your  port  of  London,  there 
is  not  a  single  article  by  the  buying  and  selling  of  which  you 
amass  your  fortunes,  there  is  not  a  single  pound  the  turning 
over  of  which  adds  to  your  riches,  that  you  do  not  in  the 
truest  sense  owe  to  their  bravery  and  self-denial,  and  there- 
fore, surely,  it  ought  to  be  an  undisputed  fact  that  it  is  in- 
cumbent upon  you  to  render  the  condition  of  their  toil  and 
life  as  harmless  as  possible. 

Gentlemen,  you  live  in  your  own  homes  surrounded  by 
saintly  women,  the  atmosphere  of  whose  lives  is  to  you  a 
continual  reminder  of  what  you  ought  to  be. 

The  pure  influence  of  the  Christian  home  (Christ's  own 
method  of  creating  men  to  follow  the  example  of  His  own 
Hfe),  the  home,  the  woman's  influence,  the  litde  child's 
pleading  ways,  the  very  sight  of  your  boys  and  girls  growing 
up  before  you— these,  the  most  potent  helps  for  true  self- 
government,  the  sailor  and  the  soldier  voluntarily  surrender 
for  your  sake. 

Is  it  too  much,  then,  to  say  that  their  lives  are  passed  in 
an  unnatural   state,   in  which  it   is  almost  impossible  for 


112  SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS 

them  to  lead  a  pure,  noble,  and  godly  life ;  though  I  am 
proud  to  say  that,  from  my  own  experience,  I  know  how 
many  achieve  splendid  characters  ;  but  surely  it  is  rather  in 
spite  of  the  disadvantages  they  suffer  than  in  response  to 
their  daily  environment. 

But  even  looking  at  this  matter  from  a  selfish  point  of 
view,  something  should  be  done  for  the  welfare  of  those 
who  protect  the  country,  else  it  will  be  found  more  increas- 
ingly difficult  to  recruit  the  ranks  of  the  services. 

If  a  number  of  great  City  merchants  should  supply  money 
to  build  ironclads  to  fill  the  Thames,  unless  they  considered 
the  personnel  of  the  navy,  their  ironclads  would  be  in  vain. 

At  the  present  moment,  I  believe,  the  Admiralty  require 
nearly  10,000  men  to  man  the  ships  they  already  have,  and 
if  that  be  true  of  the  navy,  it  is  also  true  of  the  sister  service. 
How  many  army  corps  do  you  suppose  at  this  present 
moment  you  could  put  in  the  field  ? 

The  continued  drain  of  soldiers  to  their  linked  battalions 
in  India  and  elsewhere  leaves  the  strength  of  regiments  at 
home  little  better  than  weedy  boys,  just  recruited. 

Gentlemen,  what  is  the  reason  of  this  ? 

Is  the  spirit  of  adventure  passing  away  from  England  ? 
Surely  not ! 

There  is  hardly  an  English  lad  who  attains  manhood,  who 
has  not  at  one  time  or  another  in  his  life  dreamed  of  becom- 
ing either  a  soldier  or  a  sailor. 

Is  the  patriotic  love  of  our  country  passing  away  ?  God 
forbid  that  any  Englishman  should  think  that.  England, 
freer,  nobler,  more  truly  just,  than  she  has  ever  been  before, 
demands,  and  I  believe  receives,  the  love  and  loyalty  of  all 
her  sons. 

Why,  then,  does  recruiting  fail  in  both  branches  of  the 
service  ? 

The  reasons  are  not  difficult  to  find,  though,  owing  to  the 
mysterious  system  which  prevails  at  the  War  Office  and  the 
Admiralty,  great  masses  of  the  English  people  are  kept  in 


SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS  113 

the  dark  on  these  vital  questions  :  many  do  not  even  know- 
that  this  deficiency  exists. 

The  time  has  gone  by  when  it  is  possible  to  recruit  from 
the  riffraff,  when  the  soldier  may  be  a  mere  machine. 

Intelligence  and  acuteness  are  necessary  for  the  fulfilment 
of  many  of  the  soldier's — and  certainly  of  all  the  sailor's — 
duties ;  hence  it  is  necessary  to  recruit  from  a  better  class, 
and  to-day  the  service-man  demands,  and  has  a  right  to 
receive,  a  living  wage. 

This  difficulty,  to  a  certain  extent,  does  not  exist  in  the 
navy,  for  lads  are  caught  young,  before  they  know  their  true 
value ;  but  the  difficulty  of  recruiting  stokers,  who  are 
enlisted  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  surely  teaches  us  that  a  like 
difficulty  would  arise  in  recruiting  bluejackets  at  the  same 
age. 

If  your  warships  are  to  be  increased,  you  must  multiply 
your  training-ships  round  the  coast,  and  these  training-ships, 
on  which  in  a  large  measure  depends  the  whole  future  of 
your  navy,  should  be  removed  from  centres  of  pollution 
and  danger  like  Portsmouth,  Devonport,  etc ,  and  placed  in 
spots  round  the  coast  where  the  lads  could  live  a  far  more 
natural  life,  with  much  more  recreation  in  the  fields — a  life, 
in  fact,  purer  and  more  wholesome  in  all  ways  than  is  at 
present  possible. 

Some  of  you  may  have  sons  on  the  Britannia;  if  so,  you 
will  doubtless  be  able  to  supply  yourselves  a  true  comment 
on  this  part  of  my  story.  Then  the  captains,  lieutenants,  and 
chaplains  of  these  ships  should  be  men  of  age  and  tempera- 
ment, and  special  experience  in  understanding  the  aspirations 
and  the  dangers  of  youth  ;  not  pitched  into  the  berth 
because  it  happens  to  be  their  turn  for  such  promotion,  but 
selected,  and  then  remaining  in  such  special  training  service, 
so  that  the  whole  surrounding  of  the  boy's  life  may  be  a 
sympathetic  atmosphere,  specially  directed  towards  the 
minimizing  of  those  dangers  which  of  necessity  must  exist  in 
his  present  homeless  life. 

8 


114 


SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS 


But  leaving  this  question  of  training,  let  us  consider  the 
question  of  wages. 

A  man  is  drawn  into  the  ranks  of  the  army  on  practically 
false — I  say  shamefully  false — pretence.  Nominally  he 
receives  a  shilling  a  day  and  rations. 

What  are  the  facts  ?  Threepence  out  of  every  shilling  is 
stopped  to  supply  extra  food  necessary  for  his  bodily  health, 
whether  he  will  or  no. 

A  halfpenny  is  compulsorily  stopped  for  washing  ;  thus  his 
shilling  becomes  eightpence-halfpenny  ;  but  these  deductions 
do  not  stop  here  :  barrack  damages,  library,  hair-cutting,  and 
oftentimes  other  compulsory  subscriptions,  make  a  still 
further  reduction,  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  week  the  shilhng 
is  seldom  more  than  sevenpence. 

Until  he  gets  his  shilling  per  day,  and  his  accounts  are 
simplified,  so  that  he  can  easily  understand  the  deductions 
made,  you  need  never  expect  to  enlist  efficient  and  intelligent 
men.  Again,  he  is  supphed  with  a  nominally  free  kit,  but 
the  uniform  part,  if  it  does  not  fit  him,  which  is  usually  the 
case,  is  altered  at  his  expense. 

This  kit  is  by  Government  renewed  from  time  to  time,  but 
his  under-kit,  consisting  of  three  pairs  of  socks,  two  shirts, 
two  towels,  one  little  bit  of  soap,  and  other  things  necessary 
for  what  is  called  cleaning,  he  has  to  maintain  for  seven 
long  years. 

He  has  to  show  his  kit  monthly,  and  if  he  is  lacking  in 
any  of  these  articles,  or  they  are  not  in  good  repair,  he  has 
to  pay  for  new  ones,  and  he  is  punished  as  well.  From  such 
causes  I  have  often  known  a  soldier  driven  into  a  state  of 
practical  sullen  rebelHon,  out  of  heart  with  his  profession, 
out  of  heart  with  his  officers,  a  man  most  dangerous  to  him- 
self and  especially  dangerous  to  the  society  in  which  he 
lives.  This  kit  question  must  be  settled  upon  an  honour- 
able basis. 

Again,  the  present  short  service  system  is  a  great  hindrance 
to  recruiting. 


SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS  115 

The  lodging-houses  of  England  are  full  of  those  soldiers 
in  the  reserve  living  on  their  sixpence  a  day ;  seven  years, 
the  best  of  their  lives,  have  been  taken,  rendering  them 
unfit  (according  to  the  testimony  of  employers  of  labour)  for 
ordinary  work. 

The  deferred  pay — amounting  to  ^21 — is  just  enough  to 
allow  them  to  revel  in  a  month  or  two  of  debauch,  not 
enough  to  enable  them  to  set  up  in  any  useful  business.  Of 
course  there  are  very  many  exceptions  to  this  description,  but 
there  are  a  large  number  of  these  men  loafing  round  public- 
houses,  a  continuous  warning  to  mothers  and  fathers  to 
prevent  their  boys  from  becoming  soldiers  or  sailors. 

The  pay  in  the  navy  is  a  litde  in  advance  of  that  in  the 
army,  but  there  a  man  has  to  buy  and  keep  up  all  his  whole 
kit. 

Very  often  a  new  captain  demands  a  new  kind  of  rig,  and 
so  men  are  being  constantly  put  to  a  practically  unnecessary 
expense. 

Even  a  chief  petty  officer,  who  after  qualifying  in  gunnery 
and  torpedoes  and  diving,  becomes  gunnery  instructor,  and 
then  captain  of  a  turret,  only  receives  five  shillings  and  a  penny 
per  day.  This  is  a  man  of  such  true  intelligence  and  attain- 
ment that  in  civil  life  he  would  be  receiving  a  very  large 
salary.  It  is  fair,  of  course,  to  add  that  he  has  a  pension  in 
view,  but  so  few  men  attain  all  these  qualifications  that  they 
hardly  affect  the  question. 

But  it  is  not  merely  a  question  of  pay ;  it  is  surely  a 
question  of  risk  as  well. 

These  men  carry  their  lives  in  their  hands  for  your  sakes. 
It  is  a  noble  thing  truly  to  die  for  one's  country,  but  if  you 
leave  wife  and  children  behind  to  beggary,  and  worse, 
surely  the  country  does  not  fulfil  her  part  of  the  bargain. 

I  need  not  refer  to  the  shameful  management  of  the 
Patriotic  and  Victoria  Funds;  but  shameful  as  is  the  pro- 
vision made  for  widows  and  orphans  in  the  Victoria  case, 
happy,  you  may  say,  is  the  woman  whose  husband  happens 

8—2 


Ii6  SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS 

to  die  in  a  crowd  ;  if  he  had  fallen  overboard  on  some 
stormy  night,  or  been  killed  pursuing  a  slaver  on  the  African 
coast,  his  wife  and  children  would  have  got  nothing  at  all. 

It  is  this  awful  uncertainty  about  the  future  of  those  he 
loves  best  that  is  a  continual  menace  to  the  peace  of  mind 
of  the  soldier  and  sailor.  One  little  incident  will  illustrate 
the  heartlessness  and  cruelty  of  the  Admiralty. 

A  man's  kit  is  his  own ;  if  he  dies  on  board  ship  it  is 
auctioned  on  board  amongst  his  comrades,  who  always  pay 
a  great  deal  more  than  its  value,  and  send  the  money  home 
as  a  loving  present  to  his  friends. 

But  because  the  Victoria  went  down,  the  men  who  were 
lost  in  her  had  no  compensation  allowed  to  their  relatives. 
The  men  who  lived  got  something  inadequately  small.  It 
is  this  red-tape  of  the  Whitehall  officials  that  strangles  the 
loyalty  of  the  bluejacket. 

But  there  are  other  difficulties  which  I  am  bound,  though 
unwillingly,  to  mention.  Practically,  marriage  is  forbidden 
to  the  soldier ;  at  least,  for  the  first  five  years  of  his  service, 
and  then  only  a  few  are  allowed  on  the  strength  of  the 
regiment.  God's  Apostle  says,  '  It  is  better  to  marry  than  to 
burn.'  Many  of  these  men  marry.  Out  of  their  pay  of 
sevenpence  per  day,  what  can  they  give  their  wives  ?  It 
means  that  the  wife  has  no  recognised  claim  for  support  on 
her  husband  at  all.  Either  she  tries  to  follow  the  regiment 
at  her  own  expense,  with  the  chance  of  being  sent  back  by 
the  Government,  or  drags  on  a  miserable  existence  — 
married,  yet  practically  unmarried.  It  is  almost  impossible 
to  imagine  the  lives  of  these  women,  as  they  are  spent  in 
Portsmouth  and  other  military  centres. 

The  sailor,  on  the  other  hand,  is  allowed  to  marry,  and  a 
certain  portion  of  his  pay  he  can  allot  to  his  wife  ;  but  when  I 
tell  you  that  in  the  case  of  an  ordinary  seaman  this  amounts 
to  ^i  per  month,  and  as  his  rating  increases  a  little  more  is 
added,  I  need  hardly  do  more  than  ask  you  to  imagine  what  a 
wife  with  little  children  can  do  under  circumstances  like  these. 


SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS  117 

If  wrong  comes  of  it,  and  Jack  (who  for  our  sakes  has 
practically  surrendered  wife  and  children)  receives  a  wound 
to  his  honour  which  is  worse  than  death,  a  very  stab  in  his 
heart,  gentlemen,  on  whom  lies  the  blame  ? 

But  there  is  another  side  of  the  question  worse  than 
marriage. 

Think  of  those  strong,  vigorous,  well-groomed,  fairly-fed 
men,  with  all  to  make  their  body  strong,  their  passions  power- 
ful, think  of  them  living  separated  altogether  from  woman- 
kind, with  the  common  talk  of  the  barrack-room,  or  of  the 
lower  deck,  ever  sounding  in  their  ears,  centred  in  such  sinks 
of  iniquity  as  Portsmouth,  Plymouth,  Chatham,  Aldershot, 
and  other  garrison  towns,  where  the  streets  are  beyond 
measure  disgraceful. 

In  Portsmouth,  for  instance,  which  I  know  well,  there 
are  to  be  found  on  the  Hard,  at  the  very  Dockyard  gates, 
no  less  than  fourteen  buildings  constructed  and  carried  on 
for  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  twelve  being  fully-licensed 
houses,  out  of  a  total  of  twenty-six. 

The  post-office,  where  sailors  have  very  frequently  to  go, 
stands  between  a  group  of  seven,  five  being  next  door  to  each 
other  on  the  one  side,  and  two  on  the  other.  Out  of  the 
Hard  opens  Queen  Street,  the  practical  thoroughfare  of 
Portsea,  with  a  very  large  number  of  public-houses  in  it, 
and  several  alleys  and  courts— you  can  hardly  call  them 
streets— which  are  practically  full  of  brothels. 

Is  it  any  wonder,  then — to  quote  the  words  of  his  worship 
the  Mayor  of  Portsmouth — '  that  even  in  this  garrison  there 
were  nearly  half  the  men  in  hospital,  owing  to  the  repeal  of 
the  CD.  Acts'? 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  Admiralty  and  War  Office  have 
communicated  with  Lord  Clanwilliam  and  the  general  com- 
manding at  Portsm.outh  and  other  garrison  centres,  telling 
them  to  take  steps  with  the  civil  authorities  to  ameliorate 
these  evils  ? 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  we,  who  know  that  in  an  awful  sense 


Ii8  SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS 

the  sins  of  the  fathers  are  visited  upon  the  children  from 
generation  to  generation,  demand  that  some  steps  shall  be 
taken?  I  do  not  say  to  re-enact  the  CD.  Acts — that 
is  a  matter  of  consideration — but  to  change  the  intolerable 
temptation  that  besets  these  lads,  who  for  your  sakes  endure 
temptations  to  which  the  dangers  of  the  battle-field  are  as 
nothing. 

If  you  say  that  you  supply  them  with  a  State-made  and 
State-paid-for  religion,  I  do  not  think  you  dare  salve  your 
conscience  with  such  an  excuse. 

To  create  the  priest  into  the  officer,  the  free  worship  of 
Almighty  God  into  a  compulsory  Queen's  parade,  is  that 
the  method  to  convert  any  soul  to  Christ,  or  build  him  up 
in  the  service  of  One  whose  worship  is  '  perfect  freedom '  ? 
If  you  want  to  know  about  this,  ask  first  for  statistics  of 
communions  made  by  soldiers  and  sailors,  or  of  their 
attendance  made  at  voluntary  services  in  the  evening. 

I  am  told  it  is  far  too  common  that  at  the  evening 
voluntary  service  in  garrison  towns  the  soldier  is  conspicuous 
by  his  absence. 

Gentlemen,  I  bless  God  that  there  are  many  noble,  true- 
hearted  Christian  people  working  for  the  soldier  and  the 
sailor. 

The  names  of  Miss  Robinson  and  Miss  Weston  will  be 
familiar  to  you  all,  and  many  besides  them — but  I  confess  it 
with  shame,  as  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  England,  that,  as  a 
rule,  these  efforts  have  not  been  made  by  those  in  our  own 
communion. 

The  Wesleyans,  Undenominationals,  Roman  Catholics, 
put  us  to  shame ;  but  while  confessing  our  shame,  let  us  be 
encouraged  to  think  that  at  last  a  movement  has  been  made 
at  Aldershot,  at  Gosport,  at  Pirbright,  and  in  Woolwich,  and 
perhaps  in  other  towns  I  do  not  know — the  Church  of 
England  Institute  is  in  working  order,  not  in  a  spirit  of  com- 
petition with  those  who  have  been  in  the  field  before,  and 
for  whose  untiring   labours  we   thank  Almighty  God,  but 


SOLDIERS  AND  SAILORS  ug 

Striving  to  make  up  a  little  of  the  deficiency  which  to 
our  shame  exists.  If  you  have  money,  I  pray  you  give  it  to 
these  institutions ;  but  at  any  rate  never  let  one  single  day 
pass  without  praying  Almighty  God  that  He  may  govern 
and  direct  the  bodies  and  souls  of  soldiers  and  sailors  in  the 
way  of  everlasting  life. 


BETTING  AND  GAMBLING. 


REV.  J.  S.  BARRASS, 

RECTOR   OF    ST.    MICHAEL,    BASSISHAW. 

GENTLEMEN,  in  the  absence  of  the  Rev.  J.  W. 
Horsley  through    illness,  I   have   been   called 
upon  at  short  notice  to  address  you  on  '  betting 
and  gambling.'     I  shall  take  the  subject  from 
its  popular  side  of  '  wagering '  on  sporting  events.     Before 
doing  so,  I  cannot  pass  by  without  comment  the  serious  gamb- 
ling which  takes  place  '  on  '  and  '  off '  the  Stock  Exchange. 

No  one  can  deny  that  side  by  side  with  the  genuine  busi- 
ness of  the  Stock  Exchange  there  is  constantly  going  on  a 
form  of  gambling.  That  that  gambling  is  deplored  by  the 
best  men  on  the  Stock  Exchange  is  conceded ;  but  the  fact 
remains,  and  a  very  damaging  fact  it  is  to  those  who  seek 
to  wage  war  against  gambling,  to  have  hurled  at  their  heads 
that  much  of  the  commercial  business  of  the  country  is 
carried  on  in  the  form  of  gambling.  Surely  this  is  de- 
grading in  the  commercial  world?  And  if  this  is  so  of 
the  Stock  Exchange,  what  is  to  be  said  of  the  business  of 
the  'bucket-shop'?  Surely  no  one  will  deny  that  gambling 
of  a  base  and  degrading  character  is  carried  on  there.  To 
denounce  the  system  as  a  swindle  is  to  speak  of  it  in  the 
accents  of  a  little  child. 

It  is  not  always  possible  to  reform  men  by  legislation,  nor 
will  legislation   save  the  innocent  and  the    ignorant   from 


BETTING  AND  GAMBLING  121 

risking  their  all  upon  the  airy  promises  of  an  irresponsible 
circular.  But  the  time  has  come  when  legislation  of  a 
drastic  character  should  be  aimed  at  the  'bucket-shop' 
system  as  well  as  at  the 

'  PROMOTER    OF    COMPANIES    BUBBLE.' 

And  I  hope  that  before  long  the  Legislature  will  have  the 
courage  to  take  the  matter  up.  It  has  often  been  said 
that,  as  a  class,  the  clergy  show  a  great  fondness  for 
Stock  Exchange  transactions,  and  I  have  heard  more 
than  once  from  stockbrokers  that  if  there  was  any  '  shady  * 
transaction  going,  in  which  enormous  profits  were  dangled 
before  the  eyes  of  the  unwary,  the  readiest  to  fall  into 
the  trap  were  parsons  and  pious  old  ladies.  I  do  not 
know  why  this  should  be  so,  but  it  is  vouched  for  upon  all 
sides.  An  outside  broker  once  told  me  that  in  response 
to  a  circular  which  promised  '  untold  wealth  in  a  week  to 
anyone  who  would  venture  a  few  hundred  pounds,'  he  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  an  old  widow  lady  in  a  provincial  town 
enclosing  her  all  and  expressing  her  belief  that  '  in  answer 
to  prayer  she  had  been  guided  by  God  to  make  this  invest- 
ment' '  Perhaps,'  said  the  broker,  '  you  won't  believe  me, 
but  I  sent  that  money  back.  I  felt  that  if  by  any  piece  of 
villainy  I  brought  poverty  and  want  upon  that  old  widow  I 
should  deserve  to  be  plunged  into  hell' 

Surely,  if  this  incident  shows  nothing  more,  it  reveals  the 
fact  that  there  was  at  least  one  who  felt  a  twinge  of  con- 
science. But  it  shows  more  than  that.  It  shows  unmis- 
takably that  in  the  line  indicated  there  is  going  on  a  species 
of  organized  and  systematic  villainy — a  villainy  which  must 
be  apparent  to  thousands  of  financiers  in  the  City  of  London, 
a  villainy  which  makes  one's  blood  boil  at  the  callous  indiffer- 
ence of  the  gentleman  at  Whitehall  who  rejoices  in  the  title 
of  '  Public  Prosecutor.'  What  is  he  about,  that  this  evil 
goes  on  year  after  year  unchecked  ? 


122  BETTING  AND  GAMBLING 

But  the  gambling  of  the  Stock  Exchange  and  '  bucket- 
shops,'  although  appalling  in  itself,  is  as  a  drop  in  the  ocean 
compared  to  that  which  is  among  us  and  eating  into  the  very 
heart  of  society  in  the  form  of  betting  and  wagering.  There 
is  no  class  of  the  community  free  from  the  pestilent  plague 
of  betting.  From  the  highest  to  the  lowest — the  peer  to 
the  plough-boy,  and  the  duke  to  the  dustman — the  vice 
claims  victims,  and  wherever  its  vitiating  influence  is  felt  it 
is  bad — hopelessly  bad. 

There  is  one  very  curious  feature  about  betting,  however, 
which  ought  to  be  mentioned.  Nobody  ever  bets  to  win  ! 
So  they  say,  at  all  events.  And  judged  from  the  standpoint 
of  those  who  bet,  betting  is  a  great  object-lesson  in  self- 
denial  and  self-sacrifice,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  classed 
among  the  cardinal  virtues.  According  to  these,  the  '  backer ' 
who  puts  071  his  'crown,'  his  'fiver,'  or  his  'pony,'  would  be 
most  indignant  if  anyone  made  the  suggestion  that  he  had 
any  desire  to  win  or  to  take  the  cash  of  another  without 
giving  an  adequate  return.  He  does  it,  he  says,  to  give  him 
'  an  interest  in  the  race,'  or  a  '  little  pardonable  excitement ' 
— the  great  antidote  to  the  monotonous  routine  of  daily 
business.  So  when  the  day  of  the  race,  on  which  his  money 
is  staked,  arrives,  and  purchasing  his  evening  paper  to  see 
the  'result,'  he  finds  that  the  horse  he  '  backed '  has  lost,  he 
rejoices  !  He  has  had  his  reward  in  the  excitement — that 
was  all  he  sought — and  he  throws  his  cap  in  the  air,  glad 
that  the  other  man  will  have  the  money  !  Now,  doesn't  he  ? 
Is  not  that  typical  of  the  ordinary  man  who  bets  ?  You 
know  better  !  I  know  better  !  Experience  among  men, 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  the  ordinary  gift  of  common- 
sense,  tells  one  that  to  lose  money,  however  little,  maddens 
a  man,  goads  him  on  to  still  further  ventures  in  the  hope  of 
recouping  his  losses,  impoverishes  his  home,  starves  his 
wife  and  children,  ruins  his  business,  blasts  his  character, 
develops  in  him  the  most  ignoble  passions,  and  renders  him 
unfit  for  the  serious  business  of  life.     Is  this  indictment 


BETTING  AND  GAMBLING 


[23 


overcharged  ?  You  know  it  is  not  overcharged.  Hardly  a 
day  passes  by  without  recording  a  victim  or  victims.  For 
every  penny  gained  by  betting  upon  the  one  side  there  is  a 
corresponding  misery  and  degradation  upon  the  other  side, 
and  in  any  consideration  of  the  subject  the  misery  and 
degradation  are  factors  which  cannot  be  lost  sight  of.  A 
man  may  plead,  '  May  I  not  do  what  I  please  with  my 
own  ?'  but  the  only  answer  to  such  a  plea  is,  ^  No  ;  you  may 
not  do  what  you  like  with  your  own  if  what  you  like  brings 
misery  upon  other  people.'  Precisely  the  same  argument 
might  have  been  used,  and  doubdess  was  used,  in  defence 
of  the  slave-trade  or  concerning  the  inhuman  traffic  which 
floods  our  own  streets  to-day. 

Well,  this  evil — this  disease  (for  it  is  a  disease)— of  betting 
has  assumed  gigantic  proportions,  and  as  one  views  it  to-day 
in  all  its  manifold  shapes,  it  seems  almost  hopeless  to  make 
any  successful  attack  upon  it.  There  have  not  been  wanting 
men  prominent  in  the  sporting  world  who  have  denied  the 
widespread  nature  of  betting.  Not  long  ago  the  editor  of 
a  sporting  print— 7%^  Fink'mt—sQt  out  to  show  that  betting 
was  on  the  decrease.  How  he  must  have  laughed  '  up  his 
sleeve ' !  His  attempt  was  a  most  dismal  failure.  Per- 
haps he  was  right  in  his  claim  that  there  are  not  now  such 
large  sums  staked  by  individuals  on  single  events  as  were 
staked  formerly.  But  in  that  he  appeals  to  a  very  limited 
number  of  people,  and,  after  all,  perhaps  the  real  reason  for 
it  is  the  multiplication  of  race  meetings,  or,  at  the  best,  that 
a  few  men  are  not  such  great  fools  as  they  used  to  be  in  the 
good  old  sporting  days  gone  by. 

The  evil  has  grown  of  late  years,  grown  rapidly,  until  there 
is  not  a  town,  village,  or  hamlet  in  the  land  but  feels  its 
blighting  influence.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  account  for  its 
growth.  Race  meetings  have  multiplied  within  the  past 
twenty  years.  The  press  has  lent  its  aid  to  the  movement, 
and  given  special  facilities  in  every  direction  to  men  to  bet. 
There  are  now  many  daily  and  weekly  newspapers  devoted 


124  BETTING  AND  GAMBLING 

entirely  to  sporting  news — which,  of  course,  means  offering 
extra  special  help  to  the  betting  fraternity — whilst  the  ordi- 
nary newspapers,  with  only  two  or  three  exceptions,  feel  the 
force  of  competition,  and  confess  themselves  obliged  to 
minister  to  the  wants  of  the  betting  element.  There  is  a 
demand,  they  say,  and  we  must  meet  it  with  a  supply,  and, 
moreover,  it  pays  !  Then,  again,  the  postal  authorities  have 
not  shown  themselves  averse  to  offering,  whenever  possible, 
the  means  of  telegraphic  communication  from  race  meetings 
and  the  like ;  and  last,  but  not  least,  that  great  tribunal, 
Public  Opinion,  although  generally  believing  the  spirit  of 
gambling  to  be  wrong,  has  taken  no  decided  stand  against 
it.  So,  with  these  and  many  other  facilities,  the  disease  has 
spread  and  become  a  national  scourge.  Go  where  you  will, 
you  find  it  raising  its  hideous  head,  and  wherever  you  find 
it,  there  you  have  developed  to  hand  the  very  worst  traits  of 
human  nature.  And  how  far-reaching  is  the  influence  of 
betting  !  Now  and  again  we  get  a  glimpse  through  the 
medium  of  the  law  courts  of  what  it  leads  to,  but  even  there 
we  gather  really  nothing  of  the  widespread  misery  and  ruin 
which  it  brings  in  its  train.  Men,  women,  and  children  are 
tainted  with  it.  Take  its  effects  in  the  City  of  London 
alone,  and  you  will  gather  enough  evil  from  it  to  make  the 
angels  weep.  Where  is  the  bank,  or  counting-house,  or 
warehouse,  or  factory,  or  printing  establishment,  that  is  free 
from  it?  And  most  of  these  people  find  vent  for  their 
passion  by  betting  on  horse-racing.  Not,  surely,  that  they 
are  deeply  interested  in  the  sport  ?  Most  of  them  may  never 
have  seen  a  racehorse  nor  would  they  be  able  to  distinguish 
one  from  a  draught-horse,  nor  do  they  attend  race  meetings. 
They  gather  their  'information'  from  touts  and  tipsters  {who 
are  invariably  wrong),  through  the  medium  of  the  press.  And 
the  whole  system  is  so  ridiculous  that  it  would  be  super- 
fluous to  stop  and  ask  the  value  of  the  information  given 
day  by  day,  were  it  not  that  that  information  is  implicitly 
relied  upon  by  those  to  whom  it  is  given.     The  editors  of 


BETTING  AND  GAMBLING  125 

newspapers  know  full  well  that  the  whole  thing  is  a  miser- 
able sham,  that  every  day  they  are  'palming  off'  upon  their 
readers  several  columns  of  matter  which  must  inevitably 
have  baneful  results  upon  the  community. 

For  saying  all  this,  one  is  laughed  at  by  men  who  consider 
themselves  'knowing,'  'sporting  gentlemen,'  'men  of  the 
world,'  and  the  like.  A  pack  of  fools — dangerous  fools — on 
whom,  for  the  benefit  of  our  country,  a  strict  watch  ought  to 
be  kept.  You  may  say  this  is  rather  hard  coming  from  a 
parson,  who  cannot  have  seen  much  of  the  evil.  But  I  know 
the  atmosphere  of  which  I  am  speaking,  and  I  am  not 
'  beating  the  air.'  I  know  its  baseness,  its  meanness,  its 
cowardliness.  I  know  how  utterly  impossible  it  is  for  any 
sign  or  form  of  goodness  to  flourish  in  its  midst,  and  I 
assure  you  men  that  it  is  impossible  to  find  a  vocabulary 
strong  enough  in  which  to  denounce  it.  The  whole  spirit 
of  it  is  bad,  whether  it  is  in  the  form  of  betting,  or  in  games 
of  chance,  or  in  a  sweepstake  or  a  raffle  at  a  church  bazaar 
— it  is  hopelessly  bad.  There  can  be  no  exception ;  the 
spirit  of  it  is  a  wrong  spirit,  a  spirit  which  degrades  man 
and  dishonours  God. 

But  what  are  we  to  do  ?  How  can  the  evil  be  crushed  ? 
By  legislation  ?  By  curtailing  the  freedom  of  the  press  ? 
EngUshmen  shudder  at  the  very  thought  of  curbing  the 
press,  but  surely  it  would  be  better  that  the  press  should  be 
held  by  '  bit  and  bridle,'  than  that  the  moral  tone  of  our 
country  should  be  ruined,  and  we  should  become — which 
we  are  rapidly  becoming — a  nation  of  gamblers.  Is  it  too 
much  to  hope  that  the  vice  shall  be  denounced  from  every 
pulpit  in  the  land  ? 

But  here  again  we  are  met  with  varying  counsels.  Surely, 
it  is  pleaded,  there  is  no  harm  in  playing  games  for  small 
'  points,'  or  in  a  raffle  at  a  bazaar.  And  so  the  vice  is  not 
denounced ;  betting  men  sneer  at  the  Church,  and  rightly 
so,  for  her  half-heartedness.  We  turn,  then,  to  Public 
Opinion.     What  can  be  done  there?      Among  the  upper 


126  BETTING  AND  GAMBLING 

classes,  not  much  ;  the  lower,  still  less.  Yet  one  does  not 
wish  to  give  up  the  aristocracy,  who  have  certainly  mended 
their  ways  considerably  with  regard  to  drinking.  Twenty 
years  ago  there  was  no  harm  seen  in  a  gentleman  getting 
dead  drunk  at  dinner ;  to-day  such  an  action  would  be  con- 
sidered the  action  of  a  cad.  Cannot  betting  be  so  branded 
in  society  ?  Would  to  God  that  it  could  !  That  would  be 
a  great  step.  But  it  is  not  to  the  upper  classes  alone  that 
we  have  to  look  so  much  as  to  the  middle  and  working 
classes  of  the  population.  There  is  among  these  latter 
classes  a  gathering  strength  of  brotherliness — a  feeling 
which  has  its  expression  in  the  thought,  '/  am  my  brother's 
keeper.'  It  is  to  that  growing  spirit  we  must  look  for  the 
formation  of  a  public  opinion  upon  the  evil  of  betting  and 
gambling  which  shall  ultimately  brand  the  scourge  with  that 
injustice  and  wrong  which  are  its  inherent  qualities,  and 
leave  no  effort  unused  until  the  evil  be  stamped  out.  With 
such  a  spirit  we  may  demand  legislation,  and  it  will  be 
forthcoming.  May  that  spirit  of  brotherliness  grow  among 
us  !  for  surely  it  is  but  a  foretaste  of  the  realization  of  the 
prayer — 'Thy  kingdom  come.'  Let  me  close  by  quoting  the 
familiar  lines  of  Leigh  Hunt's  poem,  '  Abou  Ben  Adhem 
and  the  Angel': 

'  Abou  Ben  Adhem — may  his  tribe  increase  ! — 
Awoke  one  night  from  a  deep  dream  of  peace, 
And  saw,  within  the  moonlight,  in  his  room, 
Making  it  rich  and  like  a  lily  in  bloom, 
An  angel  writing  in  a  book  of  gold. 
Exceeding  peace  had  made  Ben  Adhem  bold, 
I         And  to  the  presence  in  the  room  he  said, 

"  What  writest  thou  ?"     The  vision  raised  its  head, 
And,  in  a  voice  made  all  of  sweet  accord, 
Answered,  "The  names  of  those  that  love  the  Lord." 
"  And  is  mine  one  ?"  said  Abou.     "  Nay,  not  so," 
Replied  the  angel.     Abou  spake  more  low, 
But  cheerly  still,  and  said  :  "  I  pray  thee,  ihen. 
Write  me  as  one  who  loves  his  fellow-men." 
The  angel  wrote  and  vanished.     The  next  night 
He  came  again  with  a  great  wakening  light, 
And  showed  the  names  whom  love  of  God  had  blest. 
And  lo  !  Ben  Adhem's  name  led  all  the  rest.' 


MARRIAGE  LAW. 


REV.  CANON  H.  SCOTT  HOLLAND. 

*  This  is  a  gjrai  mystery  ;  hut  I 
speak  concerning  Christ  and  the 
Church.' — Ephes,  v.  32. 

IF  we  are  ever  tempted  to  suppose  that  the  secular  and 
the  rehgious  aspects  of  human  life  can  be  held  apart 
in  separate  compartments,  or  that  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  makes  its  appeal  only  to  the  individual  con- 
science, and  has  no  positive  bearing  on  social  interests,  our 
hopes  of  intellectual  consistency  are  bound  to  come  to  an 
abrupt  arrest  at  the  point  where  we  encounter  marriage. 

Marriage !  Here,  if  anywhere,  religion  claims  to  be  con- 
cerned. Always,  in  every  place,  form,  and  fashion,  the 
religious  instinct  has  fastened  on  marriage  as  its  own. 
Round  and  about  it  the  earhest  memories  of  primitive 
faiths  have  inwoven  their  most  intimate  associations. 
Wherever  we  turn,  at  whatever  age  in  the  world's  history, 
a  nation's  rehgion  finds  in  marriage  one  of  its  pivot-points. 
Marriage  can,  of  course,  be  secularized  where  religion  is 
absent.  But  it  is  hardly  possible,  except  under  the  influence 
of  some  abnormal  reaction,  such  as  overtook  the  early  Re- 
formation, for  any  living  religious  belief  to  exclude  marriage 
from  its  sphere  of  action. 

And,  as  this  is  obviously  the  case  in  the  whole  multitude 
and  mass  of  human  religions,  so,  again,  our  own  Christian 
Faith,  obeying  the  Divine  inspiration  of  its  Master's  words, 


128  MARRIAGE  LAW 

and  guided  by  the  earliest  direction  of  Apostles  themselves, 
assumed  marriage  as  its  own  peculiar  concern,  and  endowed 
it  with  its  own  authoritative  sanction,  and  steeped  it  in  its 
own  spiritual  temper,  and  veiled  it  in  the  light  and  music 
of  its  own  innermost  mystery,  and  filled  it,  and  transfigured 
it,  and  established  it,  so  that  it  became  a  wholly  Christian 
thing,  and,  at  last  was  so  imbedded  within  the  body  of  the 
Church  that  it  became  almost  inconceivable  that  even  its 
temporal,  and  legal,  and  external  conditions  could  be 
separated  from  the  special  prerogative  of  ecclesiastical 
authority. 

Yes,  certainly,  marriage  must  fall  on  to  the  religious 
side  of  our  life,  wherever  our  faith  is  in  full  play.  And 
again,  it  certainly  falls  over  on  to  the  side  of  the  individual 
conscience  and  the  individual  freedom  of  choice.  Here  in 
marriage,  if  anywhere,  the  inner  world  of  feeling,  of  passion, 
of  imagination,  all  that  strange  and  delicate  world  which 
we  w^ould  at  all  costs  keep  in  our  own  possession,  in  its 
own  sacred  secrecy,  unpublished,  undisplayed,  unadvertised, 
unhampered,  must  be  intimately  touched.  We  reach  in 
marriage  the  very  sanctuary  where  a  soul  puts  out  its  claim 
to  be  itself  and  no  other ;  to  be  hidden  from  alien  eyes  and 
unvexed  by  public  supervision ;  to  be  at  liberty  to  trust 
its  private  instincts  and  to  develop  its  natural  capacities. 
Marriage,  then,  engages  all  those  innermost  elements  in  us 
which  go  to  constitute  our  personal  and  our  religious  in- 
dividuality.    That  is  certain. 

And  yet  there  is  nothing  which  is  more  obviously  and 
more  essentially  a  public  and  social  affair.  Beyond  all 
question  the  State  must  take  account  of  it  in  all  its  bearings. 
The  life  of  the  whole  community  rests  on  it,  revolves  round 
it,  springs  from  it.  Far  from  being  a  merely  private  business, 
it  has  issues  at  every  turn  which  compel  the  public  legisla- 
tion to  take  note  of  its  every  step,  to  follow  its  every  move- 
ment, to  inspect,  to  regulate,  to  direct,  to  guard,  to  license, 
to  limit,  to  define,  to  handle  it.     Nor  can  it  do  this  without 


MARRIAGE  LAW  129 

a  distinct  conception  of  what  it  intends  by  marriage.  For 
the  matters  which  bring  marriage  under  its  handling,  and 
which  give  to  marriage  its  intense  social  significance,  are 
no  accidental  incident,  but  belong  to  its  very  principle 
and  purpose ;  and  the  State  that  is  to  be  concerned  so  in- 
timately and  so  minutely  and  so  seriously  with  all  the 
delicate  details  that  grow  up  round  and  about  marriage, 
must,  perforce,  have  deliberately  asked  itself,  what  is  its 
principle?  what  is  its  purpose?  and  must,  as  deliberately, 
have  formulated  an  answer.  The  complicated  legal  me- 
chanism by  which  a  society  controls  and  supervises  the 
marriage  of  its  citizens  is  bound  to  embody  a  definite  ideal. 
It  cannot  be  merely  the  formal  and  regulative  action  as  of 
an  indifferent  spectator  who  has  no  other  interest  than  that 
of  keeping  the  peace. 

Marriage  is,  then,  the  one  absolutely  inevitable  point  at 
which  the  theory  of  separating  the  outer  and  the  inner  order 
of  things,  the  social  and  the  individual  life,  the  purpose  of 
the  State  and  the  purpose  of  rehgion,  must  for  ever  break 
down.  It  cannot  be  done.  Here  the  two  halves  must 
either  collide  or  agree ;  they  must  have  interests  in  com- 
mon, interests  that  overlap,  interests,  too,  that  belong  to 
what  is  deepest  in  each.  A  man  or  woman  in  marrying, 
however  private,  personal,  intimate  the  motives  that  are  at 
work  within  them ;  however  profoundly  to  them  it  may 
seem  to  be  their  own  affair,  and  no  one  else's ;  are,  as  a  fact, 
undertaking  of  necessity  public  responsibilities  which  the 
entire  body  of  their  fellow-citizens  are  concerned  in  im- 
posing, and  are  exercising  the  highest  privileges  of  their 
corporate  citizenship. 

My  brethren,  you  and  I  have  come  together  here  in  St. 
Edmund's,  just  because  we  are  anxiously  inquiring  whether 
our  public  and  our  private  lives  can  be  brought  into  har- 
monious agreement ;  whether  our  social  and  our  individual 
consciences  correspond ;  whether  our  conduct  as  citizens 
reflects  in  any  degree  the  mind  of  Jesus  Christ. 

9 


130  MARRIAGE  LAW 

In  such  an  inquiry,  then,  as  I  have  tried  to  show,  there 
can  be  no  point  at  which  the  challenge  rings  out  with 
sharper  urgency,  with  a  more  piercing  anxiety,  than  at  this 
of  marriage.  And  this  urgency,  this  anxiety,  are  acutely 
heightened  for  us  at  the  moment  at  which  we  stand,  because 
the  newer  social  ideals  and  motives  which  are  beginning  to 
tell  upon  our  civic  life,  and  to  mould  our  legislation,  have 
not  yet  shown  what  their  action  will  be  in  this  vital  sphere. 
They  have  hardly  yet  displaced  at  all,  in  this  department, 
those  counter-ideas  which  everywhere  else  they  are  so 
rapidly  ousting.  Yet,  at  last,  they  are  bound  to  invade  this 
domain  as  well  as  all  others  ;  and  when  they  do  they  will 
be  liable  to  those  peculiar  perils  which  have  always  histori- 
cally accompanied  Socialism  in  its  treatment  of  marriage. 

These  perils  will  be  wholly  different  from  those  which 
have  hitherto  beset  us.  What  have  those  been  ?  What 
are  they  still?  They  are  those  which  spring  from  Indi- 
vidualism ;  and  from  the  Secularism  which  has  been  its  out- 
come. Individualism  has  no  consistent  interpretation  of 
marriage  ;  for  marriage  is  itself,  in  its  very  essence,  the  denial 
of  Individualism.  It  asserts  with  all  its  force  the  incom- 
pleteness of  the  individual.  It  roots  his  being  in  partner- 
ship, in  community,  in  corporate  responsibility,  in  the  inter- 
mingling of  life  with  life.  Individualism  has  no  insight  into 
such  principles  as  these.  For  it,  marriage  can  only  be  re- 
garded from  the  point  of  view  of  the  individual  satisfaction 
gained  in  it ;  and  its  main  anxiety  lies  in  freeing  this  satis- 
faction from  all  unnecessary  fetters.  Its  aim  is  to  leave 
the  individual  alone  as  far  as  possible  in  making  or  un- 
making his  contract.  Its  legislation  is  all  set  towards 
loosening  the  ties  as  soon  as  they  fret  or  curb  the  individual 
conscience.  This  convenience,  understood  in  its  full  sense, 
constitutes  the  main  ground  of  marriage ;  when  it  ceases, 
the  justification  for  the  contract  is  withdrawn,  is  gone. 
Hence  the  movement  of  Liberal,  of  progressive  legislation 
has  run  so  strongly  for  the  last  sixty  years  in  the  direction 


MARRIAGE  LAW  131 

of  free  divorce.  Of  course  there  was  the  uncomfortable 
fact  of  children  to  be  faced.  This  necessarily  fixed  some 
limitation  to  individual  liberty ;  and,  again,  this  involved 
public  interests  in  securing  that  no  social  injury  was  in- 
curred. For  all  this  side  Individualism,  possessing,  as  it 
did,  no  ideal  principle  by  which  to  bring  together  the  per- 
sonal satisfaction  and  the  public  obligations  incurred  by  its 
indulgence,  fell  back  on  the  protective  and  preventive 
action  of  physical  science.  It  was  inclined  to  suppose 
that  medical  knowledge  could  fix  such  regulations  as  were 
essential  to  the  public  well-being.  The  State  must  be 
guided  by  the  doctor  as  to  what  it  was  bound  to  forbid. 
Apart  from  this,  its  whole  object  lay  in  securing  perfect 
freedom  to  the  contracting  parties. 

Liberty  of  contract,  with  medical  science  at  hand  to  warn, 
and  check,  and  advise,  and  relieve — here  is  the  general 
picture  of  the  situation,  as  the  main  mass  of  men  who  were 
concerned  in  making  and  administering  the  law  have 
conceived  it.  And  can  we  be  the  least  surprised  that, 
under  the  influence  of  such  a  picture,  marriage  became 
more  and  more  secularized,  in  the  narrow  and  worse  sense  of 
the  word  ;  and  that,  under  the  cover  of  such  secularism,  we 
should  have  terribly  suffered  from  a  wide  invasion  of  practical 
methods  by  which  the  private  satisfaction  could  be  indulged 
without  incurring  any  of  the  paramount  and  public  obligations 
which  tend  to  control,  and  to  steady,  and  to  moralize  it  ? 

Such  an  invasion  could  not  but  debase  and  disorganize 
the  entire  fabric  of  moral  motives  which  sustain  the  purity 
and  the  honour  of  responsibility  in  marriage. 

I  thank  God,  from  the  depth  of  my  heart,  that,  with  the 
break-down  of  Secularism,  we  have  made  our  escape  out  of 
the  worst  stress  of  the  peril  in  which  we  stood.  The  indivi- 
dualistic creed,  which  supplied  so  much  of  the  spirit  which 
went  to  the  justification  of  those  methods,  is,  mercifully,  fast 
vanishing  away.  And  with  it,  too,  disappears,  I  trust,  a  large 
body  of  those  principles  and  motives  which  have  for  so 

9—2 


132  MARRIAGE  LAW 

long  tended  to  the  disintegration  of  social  as  well  as  married 
life,  by  interpreting  freedom  of  contract  solely  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  isolated  individual.  I  cannot  believe 
that  we  shall  for  long  now  continue  to  identify  the  advance 
of  civilization  with  the  loosening  of  the  marriage  law;  or 
assume,  instinctively,  that  progressive  legislation  lies  always 
in  the  direction  of  facilitating  divorce. 

But,  my  brethren,  these  newer  ideals  that  are  so  rapidly 
reorganizing  our  mental  structure  bring  with  them  dangers 
of  another  kind.  Ever  since  Plato  sketched  his  wonderful 
Republic,  it  has  been  clear  that  the  very  fervour  of  an  ideal 
belief  in  the  unity  of  the  social  body  might  hasten  and 
inspire  an  attack  on  marriage.  'Marriage,'  'The  family,' 
'The  home' — these  too  often  appear  to  such  a  belief  to 
be  the  toughest  obstacles  against  which  it  violently  clashes. 
These,  it  fancies,  are  the  final  entrenchments  behind  which 
a  stubborn  Individualism  obstinately  resists.  Safely  laagered 
in  this  refuge,  it  refuses  social  assimilation.  For  Socialism, 
then,  to  leave  marriage  alone  is  to  leave  the  foe  in  posses- 
sion of  all  the  fortresses  which  dominate  the  open  country, 
which  alone  has  yet  been  won.  Nothing  has  been  achieved 
so  long  as  the  corporate  life  of  the  community,  with  its 
common  joys  and  common  sorrows,  its  mutual  responsi- 
bilities and  mutual  service,  is  blocked  at  the  threshold  of 
the  home,  within  which,  secreted  and  secure,  the  married 
pair  laugh  at  the  futile  efforts  to  '  nationalize  '  a  life  which 
they  intend  to  live  to  themselves  alone. 

So,  again  and  again,  the  case  has  presented  itself,  and  will 
present  itself,  to  passionate  Socialistic  reformers ;  and  this 
attack  is  all  the  more  serious  because  it  springs  from  what  is 
highest  and  noblest  in  their  creed.  It  is  zeal  for  the  full 
realization  of  brotherhood  and  of  unity  which  tempts  them 
to  irritated  violence  against  the  obstructions  that  seem  to 
bar  advance. 

Yet  marriage  and  the  home  are,  in  reality,  the  very  oppo- 
sites  of  what  such  Socialism  supposes.     Far  from  being  the 


MARRIAGE  LAW 


[33 


true  strongholds  of  Individualism,  they  are  its  exact  anti- 
thesis. Marriage  is  the  eternal  declaration  that  human  life 
is  realized  and  perfected  in  community;  in  giving,  not  in 
taking  ;  in  service  and  surrender  to  another,  not  in  self-regard, 
or  self-culture,  or  self-isolation.  In  asserting  this  law  as  the 
prime  necessity  determining  the  continuance  of  the  race, 
marriage  roots  the  law  in  the  innermost  seat  and  principle  of 
our  being.  It  proclaims  that  law  to  be  no  accidental  crown 
to  our  enjoyment.  Rather,  it  is  the  basal  verity  without 
which  we  should  not  exist  at  all. 

In  marriage,  therefore,  lies  the  germ  of  the  community,  of 
the  State — the  germ  of  every  claim  by  which  it  is  made 
illogical  and  impossible  for  any  one  of  us  to  imagine  that  he 
may  live  his  life  to  himself  alone.  We  belong  to  others  by 
the  mere  fact  of  existing ;  and  our  own  life  becomes  fertile, 
and  realizes  its  fulness,  only  so  far  as  it  goes  out  from  itself, 
and  incorporates  itself  with  another.  This  is  the  innermost 
truth  of  our  being,  which  alone  can  interpret  it,  whether  in 
the  height  of  its  spiritual  aspirations,  or  in  the  length  of  its 
intellectual  attainments,  or  in  the  breadth  of  its  social  en- 
largements, or  in  the  depths  of  its  fleshly  instincts  and 
motives.  All  through  the  finest  fibres  of  the  soul  this  one 
note  rings  out  as  the  secret  of  the  mystery— the  note  of  a 
love  that  lives  by  giving  itself  away ;  and  marriage  is  ever 
and  always  its  concrete  manifestation,  its  ineffaceable  evi- 
dence, its  unconquerable  proof.  Nor  does  the  mystery  so 
proclaimed  arrest  itself  at  man.  Community  of  life,  com- 
mingling of  spirit,  these  are  the  hidden  springs  of  that  Divine 
intercourse,  that  sacrificial  Blessedness  which  is  the  Eternal 
Godhead.  *  God  is  Love.'  *  This  is  a  great  mystery,  but  I 
speak  concerning  Christ  and  His  Church.' 

Now,  if  this  be  the  heart  of  marriage,  it  can  be  only 
through  some  miserable  blunder  that  it  should  be  '  suspect ' 
of  Socialism.  And  what  is  the  blunder  ?  Is  it  not  the  old 
and  familiar  one  of  opposing  the  general  to  the  particular  ? 
We  fancy  that  in  order  to  love  all  men  more  we  must  love 


134  MARRIAGE  LAW 

each  separate  man  less.  We  suppose  that  a  strong  personal 
affection  for  one  must  be  in  collision  with  the  universal 
affection  for  all.  But,  in  reality,  if  it  is,  it  has  falsified 
itself.  The  right  way  to  love  all  men  better  is  so  to  love 
one  friend  with  all  your  heart  and  with  all  your  soul,  that  in 
him  you  may  learn  to  love  every  man  who  is  in  his  likeness, 
and  of  his  nature.  An  intense  personal  attachment  is  the 
training-ground  in  which  we  find  out  how  wonderfully  lov- 
able a  thing  man  is.  If  it  be  true  to  itself,  it  will  act  as  an 
inspiration  to  prompt  and  kindle  in  us  a  tender  kindliness 
for  every  man,  woman,  or  child  that  we  meet.  The  human 
race  at  large  becomes  tangible,  actual,  comprehensiblcj 
lovable  in  the  face  of  him  to  whom  our  heart  goes  out  in 
such  abundance.  If  we  fail  to  find  our  general  sympathies 
widened  by  the  intensity  of  a  particular  affection,  we  have 
somehow  disturbed  and  hindered  its  own  proper  instinctive 
movements. 

So  with  marriage.  It  is  the  ground  of  our  corporate 
existence  in  society.  It  evokes  within  its  own  sphere  the 
very  temper  of  altruism,  of  mutual  service,  of  incorporated 
interests,  which  has  only  got  to  be  extended  to  become  the 
true  tone  of  the  social  citizen.  And  the  way  to  extend  it  is, 
therefore,  not  to  abolish  the  smaller  sphere  of  its  exercise, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  to  fortify,  to  protect,  to  enrich,  to 
intensify  it.  The  closer  and  warmer  the  home  affection,  the 
larger  and  stronger  should  become  those  social  instincts 
which  make  life  inconceivable  except  in  a  community,  and 
which  constitute  it  a  matter  of  sheer  habit  and  of  unmitigated 
joy  to  think  always  of  others  as  well  as  one's  self,  to  asso- 
ciate others  with  every  word  and  work,  to  devote  to  the 
common  welfare  the  richest  energies  with  which  man  is 
endowed.  Nowhere  but  in  the  home  can  these  gifts  be 
won.  Their  vigour  will  be  proportionate  to  the  fulness  of 
the  experience  and  of  the  encouragement  which  they  have 
received  through  the  happy  opportunities  of  home.  And  if 
they  stop  short  at  the  domestic  limits,  and  refuse  to  open 


MARRIAGE  LAW  135 

out  to  their  wider  office,  they  sin  against  the  home  as  much 
as  against  the  State. 

All  the  motives,  then,  which  make  us  keen  to  emphasize 
the  enduring  and  paramount  demands  that  the  community 
should  make  on  the  individual's  conscience;  keen  to  urge 
upon  the  individual  his  responsibihties  to  the  body  cor- 
porate, and  the  moral  need  of  heroic  surrender  to  the  public 
well-being;  should  force  us  to  emphasize,  with  an  equal 
anxiety  and  enthusiasm,  the  permanent  and  stable  and  re- 
sponsible claims  made  over  him  by  marriage.  If  the  State 
is  to  be  firm  and  high,  so  must  marriage  be,  which  is  its 
fundamental  discipline  and  school.  If  the  State  is  to  receive 
the  light  and  inspiration  of  an  Ideal,  then  marriage,  too,  must 
stand  on  Ideal  grounds. 

My  brothers,  what  is  the  Ideal  to  be?  That  is  the 
challenge  which  every  year  you  will  find  driven  home  upon 
you  with  stronger  and  stronger  insistence.  You  will  be 
compelled  to  handle  the  marriage  laws.  The  pressure  of 
social  forces  is  bound  to  require  this  of  you.  From  all- 
sides  the  pressure  arrives.  Sometimes  from  the  side  of 
what  is  noblest  and  finest  in  the  modern  movement,  as,  for 
instance,  from  the  larger  recognition  of  a  woman's  freedom 
and  a  woman's  right.  Sometimes,  on  the  contrary,  it  will 
proceed  from  the  terrible  moral  dismtegration  which  is  inci- 
dent to  a  time  of  vast  social  change  and  of  religious  chaos. 

Anyhow,  it  will  come.  And  let  me  remind  you,  this  law 
of  marriage,  which  you  will  be  compelled  to  touch  and  treat, 
has  been  taken  wholly  away  from  its  ancient  Ecclesiastical 
Administration,  and  committed  to  the  Secular  Parliament 
to  direct,  and  to  the  Civil  Courts  to  apply. 

Quite  rightly  !  I  am  not  disputing  this,  or  doubting  its 
fitness.  Only  remember  what  that  involves.  Behind  its 
old  administration  under  ecclesiastical  supervision,  derived 
from  canon  law,  there  was  always  assumed  a  controlling  and 
inspiring  and  sanctioning  force,  a  fixed  and  unshaken 
authority— the  Christian  ideal  of  marriage.  The  law  rested 
on  this,  beyond  argument,  beyond  doubt. 


136  MARRIAGE  LA  W 

Now,  under  its  civil  condition,  under  its  secular  adminis- 
tration, are  you  going  to  retain  that  ideal  as  your  basis  and 
your  trust  ?  Are  you,  or  not  ?  That  is  the  question  of 
questions  !  We  have  imagined  for  so  long  that  by  handing 
public  affairs  over  to  secular  bodies  to  deal  with,  we  shall 
avoid  religious  problems,  that  we  have  come  to  fancy  that 
even  the  law  of  marriage,  if  so  handed  over,  can  be  deter- 
mined by  plain  common-sense  and  considerations  of  general 
expediency.  But,  as  we  started  by  saying,  this  vague  sup- 
position of  a  divorce  between  secular  and  religious  interests, 
even  if  it  can  make  a  shift  to  manage  most  things,  must  be 
brought  up  short  at  this  particular  point.  Marriage  necessi- 
tates a  positive  ideal.  And  this  ideal  must  have  its  base  in 
the  spiritual  life.  For,  indeed,  it  lays  such  a  tremendous  strain 
on  our  powers  of  self-sacrifice  for  others,  it  involves  such 
momentous  responsibilities  and  such  far-reaching  issues,  that 
nothing  less  than  a  spiritual  ideal  can  have  weight  and 
authority  enough  to  carry  it  through.  Without  this — if  once 
it  drops  to  the  level  of  mere  expediencies  and  utilities ;  if 
ever  it  be  discussed,  and  handled,  and  legislated  for,  and 
adaiinistered  on  the  materialistic  grounds  that  are  so  inevit- 
able to  the  average  man  of  the  world — it  is  bound  to  go 
under  ;  it  is  bound  to  yield  and  break.  The  personal  crises 
involved  in  its  course  are  so  intense,  so  manifold,  and  so 
severe,  that  nothing  but  an  appeal  to  the  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice  can  carry  men  or  women  through  them ;  and  self- 
sacrifice  can  only  be  made  at  the  altar  of  an  authoritative  or 
supreme  ideal. 

An  ideal !  We  cannot  be  without  it  here  !  We  cannot ! 
And  we  dare  not !  for  all  round  us,  and  within  us,  the  hideous 
and  awful  powers  of  passion  are  waiting  in  the  darkness  for 
the  opportunities  offered  by  our  indecision.  Wherever  we 
slacken  in  theory,  or  totter  in  will,  or  falter  in  insight,  they 
press  in,  they  rush  forward,  they  seize  the  advantage,  they 
gather  to  the  onset.  Hardly  even  at  our  best  can  we  hold 
the  fort  of  purity  ;  hardly  can  we  withstand  the  swarming 
hosts  that  even  now  are  ever  on  the  verge  of  victory.     Let 


MARRIAGE  LAW  137 

but  one  gate  be  opened,  let  but  one  wall  be  breached,  and 
the  day  is  lost. 

How  shall  we  stand?     Under  whose  flag  are  we  fighting  ? 
Is  there  treachery  in  the  camp  ?  or  can  we  hold  together,  as 
one  army  under  one  Captain,  that  will  die,  but  never  sur-  | 
render?     The  question  is  passing  round  from  mouth  to  | 
mouth — from   soul  to  soul !     The  challenge  is  ringing  in  ' 
your  ears  to-day !     A  flag  there  must  be,  and  a  Captain 
whom  we  obey,  or  the  ranks  will  sunder  and  fly.     What  is    \ 
it?     Who  is  He?  \ 

There  is  One  who,  as  Son  of  man,  claimed  lordship  over 
all  that  man  is.     There  is  One  who  flushed,  at  the  marriage 
in  Cana  of  Galilee,  the  water  of  human  life  with  the  rich     ^ 
wine  of  His  own  benediction.     There  is  One  who  poured     ,' 
into  the  marriage  union  the  strength  and  sanction  of  His 
own  mysterious  union  with  His  Church. 

He  has  endowed  it  with  an  ideal  form  by  which  it  has 
withstood  the  incessant  deterioration  of  lust,  and  has  proved 
its  power  to  survive  the  lapse  of  degradation,  and  to  revive 
and  to  purify  itself  anew,  and  to  establish  itself,  and  to  grow, 
and  to  show  promise  of  yet  finer  issues  to  come. 

That  ideal  has  regulated  hitherto  all  the  main  efforts  of 
our  civilization  to  secure,  and  govern,  and  liberate  marriage. 
That  ideal  has  yet  much  more  work  which  it  could  do, 
in  the  way  of  demanding  of  man  something  approaching 
the  self-sacrifice  which  marriage  must  always  demand  of 
women.  It  is  for  you  and  me,  my  brethren,  to  say  whether 
it  yet  shall  rule  our  inward  thoughts,  and  guide  our  public 
actions.  It  is  for  you  and  me  to  nerve  and  brace  ourselves 
to  hold  fast  its  law  in  voluntary  obedience,  even  if  it  should 
come  about  that  the  conditions  of  a  community  which  is  now 
so  largely  non-Christian,  should  render  it  unfair  and  im- 
possible to  impose  the  full  Christian  ideal  by  law. 

In  any  case  we  shall  be  sorely  pressed  !  And  we  shall 
only  have  the  strength  to  endure  if  we  win  it  out  of  His 
own  Name,  who,  however  hard  be  the  obedience  He 
requires,  will  always.  Himself,  give  us  the  grace  to  fulfil  it. 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION. 

BY   THE 

REV.  G.  W.  GENT, 

PRINCIPAL    OF    ST.    MARK'S    TRAINING    COLLEGE,    CHELSEA. 

M;/c/  He  took  a  child,  and  set  him 
n  the  midst  of  them' — St.  Mark 
X.  36. 

I  HAVE  thought  it  well  to  take  this  text  this  morn- 
ing, not  because  it  suggests  or  is  connected  with 
any  lesson  as  to  the  religious  education  of  children, 
but  because  it  may  recall  to  us,  in  all  that  we  to-day 
consider  together,  the  constant  remembrance  which  our 
Lord  had  of  children,  the  constant  likeness  there  would 
seem  to  have  been  before  His  mind  between  their  innocence 
and  the  characteristics  required  of  those  who  were  to  be 
worthy  members  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Those  of  you 
who  are  familiar  with  the  Baptismal  Service  of  the  Church 
of  England  know  how  closely,  in  this  matter,  the  Church 
has  followed  the  example  of  her  Master. 

We  shall  all  agree,  doubtless,  in  some  such  definition  of 
'  Religious  Education '  as  this,  that  it  is  the  teaching  to  a 
child  of  its  duty  in  relation  to  God.  That  is  to  say,  we 
shall  teach  the  child  to  do  right,  because  righteousness  is 
the  will  of  God  ;  and  to  abstain  from  doing  wrong,  because 
wrong-doing  is  hateful  to  God.  Yet  with  this  we  shall,  for 
the  child's  own  comfort,  teach  it  also  that  God  is  slow  to 
anger  and  merciful ;  that  its  natural  childlike  sorrow  for 
having  done  wrong  is  acceptable  in  His  sight;  that  it  is 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  139 

possible  with  Him  to  begin  afresh,  and  to  make,  in  the 
future,  some  amendment  for  the  sins  of  the  past.  And 
already,  I  would  bid  you  notice,  we  are  entering  upon  the 
circle  of  distinctively  Christian  ideas.  We  have  come,  I 
mean,  within  the  range  of  that  all  but  universal  human 
instinct  which  cries  out  for  a  Mediator  between  God  and 
man.  If,  that  is  to  say,  we  are  to  have  His  will  brought 
home  to  us  under  conditions  which  man  can  understand  ; 
if,  conscious  of  the  gulf  which  our  sins  set  between  God 
and  us,  we  are  to  come  to  Him  with  confidence  and  hope  ; 
then  we  inevitably  require,  we  unceasingly  look  for,  one 
who  shall  represent  God  to  us,  and  ourselves  to  God.  So 
false  is  it,  indeed,  that  either  for  the  adult  or  the  child  the 
facts  of  Christ's  history  come  first,  and  that  upon  them  is 
then  built  the  '  superstructure  '  of  Christian  ideas ;  so  true 
that  the  child  and  the  adult,  and  the  child  more  than  the 
adult,  respond  at  once  to  the  ideas,  and  find  the  greatest 
confirmation  of  the  truth  of  the  historical  facts  of  Christ's 
life  and  death,  in  the  supreme  fact  that  these  correspond  to 
ideas  so  human  and  so  universal  that  practically  they  may 
be  called  innate. 

Thus,  then,  through  this  intimate  correspondence  be- 
tween the  heart  and  conscience  of  man,  on  one  side,  and 
the  facts,  historical  and  dogmatic,  which  Christianity  alleges, 
on  the  other,  we  are  brought  face  to  face,  at  the  outset,  with 
what  is  the  chief  question  of  which  I  have  to  treat  this 
morning  :  Are  we  to  teach  the  great  Christian  dogmas  to 
children  ?  and  if  so,  how  in  general  are  we  to  teach  them  ? 
The  mediatorship  of  Christ,  for  instance,  with  the  two-fold 
truth  which  that  involves  of  the  Incarnation  and  the  Atone- 
ment— are  we  to  teach  such  doctrines  to  children,  or  are  we 
to  follow  the  way  of  those  who  tell  us  to  teach  simply  the 
facts  of  Christ's  earthly  story,  and  leave  them  to  discover 
later  on  in  life  the  meaning  which  gives  those  facts  their 
full  significance? 

1.  This  important  question  is  often,  as  we  all  know,  dealt 


140  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

with  in  a  very  cavalier  manner.  '  These  doctrines  of  which 
you  speak,'  it  is  said,  'are  really  matters  of  dogma;  and  the 
minds  of  children  are  not  fitted  to  receive  or  to  understand 
dogma;  therefore  dogma  must  be  postponed.'  Whether  it 
be  really  true  that  the  minds  of  children  are  unfitted  to 
comprehend,  at  least,  the  practical  scope  of  the  great  Chris- 
tian dogmas  is  a  point  on  which  I  shall  have  something  to 
say  presently.  My  immediate  concern  is  with  the  implica- 
tion contained  in  the  remark  which  I  have  quoted,  namely, 
that  religious  instruction  can  be  given  without  the  intro- 
duction of  dogma.  Surely,  the  thought  of  those  who  so 
speak  is  in  subjection  to  a  word  rather  than  to  the  meaning 
of  that  word ;  they  are  so  incensed  at  the  word  '  dogma ' 
that  they  do  not  stop  to  ask  themselves  what,  after  all,  the 
word  means.  Yet  '  dogma '  means  nothing  more  at  bottom 
than  the  statement  in  some  form  of  words  of  what  one  be- 
lieves to  be  true ;  and  I  would  respectfully  ask  what  teach- 
ing there  is  which  is  not,  in  some  way  or  other,  a  stating  of 
what  one  beheves  in  words,  and  how  anyone  whose  business 
it  is  to  teach  the  young  is  to  set  out  upon  that  work,  if  he 
be  denied  the  use  of  compendiums  and  formularies?  I 
know  that  it  has  been  proposed  to  teach  arithmetic  without 
making  children  learn  the  multiplication  table,  and  that 
some  eccentric  teachers  would  postpone  telling  a  child  that 
the  earth  goes  round  the  sun  until  he  is  of  an  age  to  under- 
stand the  reasoning  on  which  that  truth — always  more 
amazing  to  children  than  any  miracle — is  founded.  But 
the  experience  of  practical  teachers  in  all  ages  will  be  found, 
I  believe,  to  confirm  the  common-sense  view  that  you  can- 
not teach  everything  to  a  child  at  once,  but  that  it  must 
begin  by  beHeving  many  things,  even  in  mathematics  and 
science,  upon  authority,  before  it  can  hope  to  establish 
them  by  independent  inquiry.  Yet  this  causing  of  children 
to  learn,  as  true,  statements  which,  from  the  nature  of  the 
case,  they  can  only  receive  '  upon  authority,'  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  '  dogmatic  instruction  ' ;  and  if  my  supposed  op- 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  141 

ponent  tells  me  that  it  is  only  in  the  religious  sphere,  and 
not  in  the  secular,  that  he  objects  to  such  'dogmatic  in- 
struction,' then,  as  I  cannot  but  think,  his  plight  is  worse 
than  before.  For  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  of  any  religious 
instruction  which  does  not  begin  by  teaching  the  child  that 
God  exists  ;  and  this  is  a  statement  not  only  dogmatic  in 
form,  but  dogmatic  also  in  the  fact  that  for  children,  as 
indeed  for  most  adults,  it  comes  and  must  come  '  upon 
authority.' 

2.  Dogmatic  instruction,  then,  at  some  point  or  other  we 
cannot  escape,  either  in  religious  or  secular  learning.  Our 
opponents  only  come  to  grapple  with  us  when  they  assert 
either  that  the  dogmas  we  wish  to  teach  are  false — which  is 
not  a  contention  with  which  I  have  to  deal  this  morning — 
or  that  they  are  incomprehensible  to  children,  to  which 
point  I  now  return. 

'  Return,'  I  say,  for  I  have  already  given  it  as  my  opinion 
that  children  are  even  more  quick  to  understand  the  great 
ideas  which  the  Christian  scheme  of  redemption  enshrines — 
the  ideas  of  goodness,  of  transgression,  of  penitence,  of  forgive- 
ness— than  they  are  to  be  interested  in  the  facts  of  our  Lord's 
life  upon  earth  as  narrated  in  the  Gospels.  This  is  a  point 
which  I  must  leave,  of  course,  to  your  own  experience  of 
children,  or  to  your  recollections  of  your  own  childhood ; 
for  my  own  part,  I  have  never  come  across  a  child,  and  I 
do  not  believe  it  to  be  possible  to  come  across  a  child,  at 
least  over  the  age  of  seven,  to  whom  it  is  not  only  practic- 
able, but  easy,  to  give  a  well-comprehended  idea  of  Chris- 
tianity as  a  system  of  religion,  and  not  merely  as  telling  a 
beautiful  story  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  If  this  is  not  always 
the  case,  or  if  Christianity  has  sometimes  been  put  before 
children  in  a  perverted  or  unintelligible  way,  then,  I  say, 
this  is  not  because  those  children  have  been  taught  the 
dogmas  of  Christianity  instead  of  the  simple  facts,  but 
because  they  have  been  taught  the  dogmas  after  a  bad 
method.  Children  must  be  taught  the  dogmas  of  their  religion 


142  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

— as  they  must  be  taught  everything  else — after  a  method 
suited   to   the   degree   and   capacity  of   their  intelligence. 
Now,  it  is  a  well-known  principle  of  the  science  of  teaching 
— or,    to    use   its    hideous    modern   name,   the  science    of 
pedagogy — that  examples  and  illustrations  shall  precede,  in 
any  subject,   the  learning  of  the  abstract  rule  which  they 
embody ;  or,  at  least,  that  illustration  and  rule  shall  be  in 
close    contact   with    each    other.     Yet   this   principle,   now 
universally  recognised  in    secular  instruction,  is   extraordi- 
narily often  forgotten  by  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  give  a  child 
an   intelligible   account    of  the    main    dogmas  of  religion. 
The   child   is    set  down  to   learn    the  Apostles'  Creed  or 
Catechism,  says  it  by  heart,  and  is  then  supposed  to  have 
received  '  sound  Church  teaching  ' — as  to  which  I  can  only 
say  that    it    makes    very  little    difference,   in  such  a  case, 
whether  the   'Church   teaching' is  '  sound' or  not;  it  will 
not  last,  because  it  will  not  have  been  brought  into  any  sort 
of  contact  with  the  child's   own   experience.     Every  right 
rule  of  teaching  is,  in  fact,  reversed  by  teachers  who  thus 
hang  the  whole  weight  of  their  teaching  upon  the  formulary; 
they  are   replacing    the   familiar   illustration    and  con-  rete 
example,  which  children  love,    by  the  mere  abstract  state- 
ment which  children  are  at   such  a  loss  to  apply.     Do  I, 
then,  for  a  moment   deny  the  value   of  the  abstract  state- 
ment ?     No  ;  but  I  say  that,  in  order  to  have  that  value,  it 
must  be  taught  to  children  hand  in  hand  with   the  concrete 
example  and  familiar  experience  which  lights  it  up,  partially 
if  not  wholly.     You  wish,  for  instance,  to  teach  a  child  the 
doctrine  of  the  Atonement.      Then,   if  you   are  wise,  you 
will  begin  by  recalling  to  the  child  some  experience  of  its 
owii,  in  which  another  child   interceded  for  it,   or  possibly 
bore  part  of  its  punishment.     That  child  will  understand 
you  afterwards,  when  you  go  on  to  instruct  it  that  Christ  is 
the  Mediator  between  God  and  men.     If  you  cannot  do 
this  so  easily  with  all  Christian  doctrines,  you  can  at  least 
do  something  of  the  kind  with  all  of  them.     Believe  me, 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


143 


a  child  to  whom  Christian  doctrines  have  been  made  thus 
practically  real,  when  it  comes  to  the  'generalizing  age,' 
the  age  of  fourteen  or  fifteen,  will  recognise  as  familiar 
friends  the  more  elaborately-stated  truths  which  a  fuller 
teaching  will  then  put  before  it. 

3.  You  thus  see  that,  while  I  advocate  that  Christianity 
should  be  taught  dogmatically  from  the  earliest  age— and, 
indeed,  if  it  is  not  to  be  dogmatically  taught,  I  do  not  see 
how  it  can  be  taught  at  all — I  nevertheless  hold  that  dogma 
should  be  taught  to  children  after  a  different  method  from 
that  in  which  it  may  be  taught  to  adults — by  the  method, 
namely,  of  illustration  and  concrete  example  rather  than  by 
that  of  abstract  statement.  I  believe  this  to  be  the  natural, 
and  therefore  the  most  truly  educational,  manner  of  bringing 
children  to  an  ultimate  and  intelligent  acceptance  of  the 
great  doctrines  of  their  rehgion.  But  it  is  quite  clear  that 
if  the  method  of  religious  education  which  I  defend  is  to 
succeed,  the  same  influence  must  preside  over  it  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end — the  teachers  must  be  believers,  and 
they  must  be  religiously-minded  men.  They  must  be  be- 
hevers,  because  only  a  believer  will  be  able  to  select  and  to 
treat  the  illustrations  and  examples,  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
in  such  a  way  as  to  make  them  convincingly  lead  up  to  the 
dogmas  or  abstract  statements  of  which  they  are  meant  to 
be  the  embodiment.  I  do  not  think  this  point  needs  labour- 
ing at.  But,  again,  those  who  teach  ought  not  only  to  be 
behevers,  but  also  religious  men.  True  education,  as  we 
have  begun  to  see  even  in  secular  learning,  does  not  consist 
in  the  facts  with  which  the  memory  is  filled,  or  the  rational 
principles  with  which  the  intellect  is  enlightened.  All  that 
may  be  done,  and  yet  the  child  be  turned  out  nothing  better 
than  a  walking  dictionary  or  an  intellectual  self-seeker. 
Education,  in  the  highest  or  the  deepest  sense  of  that 
much  abused  word,  means  primarily  this — the  influence  of 
character  upon  character.  If  it  is  true,  as  it  indubitably 
is,  that  the  character  of  the  man  who  imparts  their  secular 


144  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

instruction,  and  the  mode  in  which  he  imparts  it,  will  have 
a  lasting  influence  upon  the  children  who  are  taught,  much 
more  is  it  true  that  the  character  of  the  man  who  imparts  to 
them  religious  instruction,  and  the  mode  in  which  he  teaches 
this,  will  have  a  lasting  influence  upon  the  way  in  which  the 
children  conceive  of  religion.  This  point  again  needs  no 
labouring.  Only,  I  have  said  so  much  in  order  that  we 
may  remind  ourselves  that  the  best  paper  schemes  of  reli- 
gious instruction  can  never  work,  unless  we  are  also  careful 
as  to  the  hands  in  which  we  place  the  actual  teaching. 

I  have  been  laying  down  leading  principles  ;  and  in  the 
consideration  of  them,  my  brethren,  we  have  ascended  to 
great  heights.  But  here,  at  our  feet,  in  the  workaday 
world  around  us,  there  is  controversy  and  strife  :  and  I 
must  say  something  of  it. 

It  would  indeed  be  unreal  if,  preaching  on  this  subject, 
I  were  not  to  say  a  word  on  the  struggle  which  is  at  this 
moment  going  on  at  the  London  School  Board.  Why, 
then,  are  Churchmen  as  a  whole  opposed  to  the  School 
Board  system  of  religious  instruction  ?  Let  me  premise  in 
the  first  place  that  it  is  not  out  of  mere  jealousy  of  the 
Board  schools.  We  should  be  well  content  to  let  the  Board 
schools  go  their  way,  if  the  same  measure  of  justice  were 
dealt  out  to  the  religious  instruction  which  is  given  in  our 
schools  as  is  rendered  to  that  given  in  theirs.  We  have  a 
most  real  grievance  so  long  as  the  rates  paid  by  Churchmen 
are  taken  to  pay  for  undenominational  religious  instruction 
in  which  we  do  not  believe,  whilst  at  the  same  time  we  are 
compelled  to  tax  ourselves  in  order  to  support  the  schools 
in  which  the  Church  instruction,  in  which  we  do  believe,  is 
given.  But  setting  that  on  one  side,  why  are  we  unable  to 
accept  for  our  children  the  religious  instruction  of  the  Board 
schools  ?  I  say  no  word  against  the  teachers,  who,  to  my 
knowledge,  are  in  the  main  a  body  of  Christian  men,  work- 
ing hard  and  doing  their  best.  But  behind  the  teachers  are 
the  Boards  who  employ  them;  and  what  Churchman  can  be 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  145 

content  with  such  a  shding  scale  of  rehgious  teaching  as  is 
revealed,  when  we  compare,  for  instance,  the  religious  syl- 
labus of  the  Board  of  Birmingham  with  that  of  the  School 
Board  for  London,  or  know  that  many  members  of  the 
School  Board  for  London  itself  are  willing,  and  even  anxious, 
to  leave  the  Divinity  of  our  Lord  an  open  question  ?  We 
have  a  deeper  difficulty  in  the  very  character  of  the  unde- 
nominational teaching  itself.  Such  teaching  may  suit  the 
great  English  Nonconformist  bodies,  which  one  and  all 
make  the  real  spiritual  life  of  the  individual  begin  when  he 
has  undergone  some  crisis  of  conversion  or  election,  which 
may,  indeed,  occur  at  any  time,  but  which  is  not  usually 
expected  to  occur  till  after  the  period  of  childhood  is  over. 
I  can  understand  why  those  who  so  believe  think  it  enough 
if  Bible  facts  alone,  without  Bible  doctrines,  are  put  before 
the  minds  of  children.  It  is  enough,  in  such  a  case,  if  the 
child  be  given  the  facts  which,  when  the  moment  of  conver- 
sion comes,  will  enable  him  to  understand  his  emotions  and 
profit  by  them.  But  the  Church's  standpoint  in  regard  to 
children  is  wholly  different.  She  regards  them  as  already 
made  members  of  Christ  at  their  baptism  in  earliest  infancy. 
She  wants  to  remind  them  of  that  privilege  and  of  the  re- 
sponsibility it  involves.  She  wants  them  to  understand  that 
the  work  of  Christ's  redemption  has  already  touched  them ; 
to  tell  them  how  they  may  come  to  God,  without  uncer- 
tainty, when  they  fall  into  temptation  or  sin ;  to  show  them 
the  way  of  pardon  and  of  new  strength  already  open  for 
them.  She  wants  also  to  lead  them  on  towards  Confirma- 
tion, and  to  teach  them  something  of  sacramental  grace. 
In  a  word,  she  cannot  be  content  until  to  her  own  children 
she  can  teach  the  Church  Catechism.  And  as  none  of 
these  things  are  possible  to  her  under  the  existing  Board- 
school  system,  she  cannot  accept  that  system  as  a  system  of 
national  education,  unless  and  until,  under  it,  there  is 
possible  for  the  Church  children  who  attend  Board  schools 
an  instruction  in  Christianity  which  is  after  a  Church  and 

10 


146  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

not  after  a  non-Church  fashion.  That  is  our  whole  case. 
We  have  no  wish  as  a  Church,  as  we  certainly  have  no  right 
as  a  Church,  to  hinder  the  State  from  giving  to  the  children 
of  England  the  excellent  secular  education  which  it  rightly 
deems  necessary  in  the  primary  schools.  But  we  do  re- 
spectfully demand  that  such  primary  education  shall  be 
given  under  such  conditions  as  shall  render  it  possible  for 
Church  children  to  receive,  along  with  it,  the  definite  re- 
ligious instruction  which  their  parents  desire. 

We  make  the  demand  in  the  name  of  Him  whose  repre- 
sentatives we  are  ;  we  ask  for  the  same  liberty  as  our 
Master  had ;  we  claim  also  '  to  take  a  child  and  set  him  in 
the  midst  of  us.' 


VAIN  OBLATIONS. 


REV.  T.  C.  FRY,,  D.D., 

HEADMASTER    OF    BERKHAMSTED    SCHOOL,     AUTHOR    OF     'A    SOCIAL 
POLICY    FOR   THE   CHURCH.' 

^ Bring  no  more  vain  oblations  .  .  . 
I  cannot  away  ivith  iniquity,  and  the 
solemn  meeting  .  .  .  IVash  you,  make 
you  clean.' — Isaiah  i.  13- 16. 

THE  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  the  Public 
Health  Acts — something  of  a  contrast  here! 
A  Christian  nation,  with  an  Established 
Church,  and  a  burning  need  for  penalty  on 
iniquity  and  neglect  '  Oblations  made  vain '  by  the  pre- 
sence of  uncured  evils  that  brand  our  profession  with 
hypocrisy.  The  '  solemn  meetings '  of  respectable  parish- 
ioners at  matins,  and  the  iniquity  of  high  rents  for  the 
slum-dwellings  of  great  cities.  These  are  surely  the  con- 
trasts that  Almighty  God  '  cannot  away  with.'  In  our  ears, 
as  in  the  ears  of  eighth  century  Judaism,  should  ring  the 
prophet's  warning  cry  :  '  Wash  you,  make  you  clean.'  At 
times  we  flatter  ourselves  at  our  progress,  as  we  count  up 
our  Sanitary  Acts  ;  well,  perhaps  we  might  do  so  justly,  if 
we  called  ourselves  heathen  still.  But  we  confess  allegiance 
to  Christ ;  and  He  bid  us  deal  with  our  neighbours  as  we 
would  be  dealt  by.  Just  so,  we  say ;  that  is  the  very 
reason  v;hy  we  pass  PubHc  Health  Acts. 


148  VAIN  OBLATIONS 

Let  us  hope  so ;  but  is  that  the  reason  why  we  need  to 
pass  them  ? 

'  Well,  of  course,  there  is  so  much  sanitary  ignorance. 
The  poor  are  so  prejudiced  against  open  windows,  and  so 
unconscious  of  danger  as  to  ashpits.' 

Ignorance  ?  ignorance  of  the  poor  ?  is  tka^  the  only 
cause  of  our  difficulty  ?  is  it  to  remove  by  object-lessons  the 
ignorance  of  the  poor  that  we  have  put  penalties  into  the 
Acts  ?  Undrained  houses — you  can  enforce  their  drainage. 
If  you  are  a  person  of  some  importance,  gifted  with  a  little 
courage  and  more  obstinacy  ;  if  the  inspector  of  nuisances 
is  not  first  cousin  to  your  landlord ;  if  your  Sanitary 
Authority  esteem  righteousness  above  rates,  you  may  then 
positively  enforce  the  drainage  of  your  own  or  your  neigh- 
bour's premises — after  considerable  strife.  But  did  the 
ignorant  poor  build  these  undrained  houses  ?  do  the  people 
who  live  in  them  pocket  their  rents,  own  the  leases,  or 
benefit  by  the  neighbouring  clearances  ?  Do  the  men  who 
derive  a  profit  from  them  profess  a  high  standard  of  religion 
or  of  politics  ?  do  they  profess  Christ  ? 

Cellar  dwellings — oh,  the  Acts  are  very  particular  about 
them ;  they  are  careful  enough  to  rule  that  they,  too,  must 
have  drainage,  and  (what  is  more)  proper  areas  and  some 
light.  How  thoughtful !  how  Christian  !  how  self-sacrificing ! 
Is  it,  then,  possible  that,  except  for  this  law,  by  the  pressure 
of  legally-recoverable  economic  rent  in  a  Christian  land, 
human  beings  of  our  own  nation,  and  possibly  of  our  own 
faith,  might  be  driven  for  shelter  into  holes  in  the  ground  ? 

Did  this  really  happen  before  we  actually  rose  to  the 
level  of  this  remarkable  provision  ? 

Streams,  again,  first  amongst  God's  most  beautiful  gifts — 
streams  cannot  be  polluted,  the  law  says  so ;  though  some 
of  us  who  know  some  English  streams  might  not,  on  any 
less  authority,  believe  it.  Are  they,  then,  turned  into  water- 
ways of  poison  and  death,  because  drains  are  dearer  and 
will  raise  the  rates  ?     Some  houses  too,  if  unfit  for  human 


VAIN  OBLATIONS 


149 


habitation,  can  (mostly  after  lawsuits)  be  pulled  down ;  yet 
are  they  generally  rented  to  the  last  hour  of  their  accursed 
life. 

And  is  all  this  the  mere  unfortunate  result  of  ignorance 
of  sanitary  law  ?  No,  indeed  ;  our  Christian  profession  is 
a  lie  in  the  mouth  of  all  who  profit  by  this,  or  who  are  inert 
or  indifferent  about  it.  Christianity  is  the  whitewash  of  the 
vestryman,  the  mill-owner,  the  cottage-owner — great  or  small 
— the  selfish  politician,  the  satisfied  ratepayer,  who  either 
sees  all  this  and  says  nothing,  or  grows  fat  upon  its  evils. 

The  two  deadly  foes  of  life  and  truth  in  this  matter  are 
greed  and  indifference.  Indifference  is  greed's  best  ally. 
Indifference,  with  dull  selfish  eyes,  from  its  coign  of  vantage, 
coldly  watches  the  reformer's  fall.  '7  live  on  the  hill,' it 
says ;  '  why  should  I  pay  for  my  parish  drains  in  the 
valley  ?  /  don't  live  over  a  sewer  ;  thank  God,  my  children 
do  not  sleep  in  a  cellar.  I  only  own  a  cellar  to  keep  wine 
in  ;  I  don't  need  to  let  it  for  other  people  to  sleep  in.  It  is 
all  very  horrid,  of  course,  but  it  is  a  question  for  law,  for 
police,  not  for  me.  I  do  not  wish  to  make  needless 
enemies.' 

But,  my  indifferent  brother,  greed  has  so  drafted  its  laws 
as  to  suck  its  gains  from  your  inertness.  The  law  seldom 
knows  compulsion  ;  it  is  unworkable  at  times,  when  authority 
sleeps,  except  through  some  ratepayer  like  you.  Have  you 
no  responsibility  in  the  matter  ?  Yes,  depend  upon  it,  the 
word  is  very  near  you  :  '  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  for  the 
least  of  these  My  brethren,  ye  did  it  not  for  Me.' 

'  Well,'  you  say,  '  I  do  not  wish  to  be  inert.  I  should 
like  to  do  something.  But  the  question  is  so  vast.  How 
am  I  to  begin  ?' 

'Vast,'  yes;  it  is  on  that  word  that  the  man  with  vested 
interest  relies.  At  each  municipal  election,  that  would 
sweep  out  his  Augean  stable,  if  the  broom  could  be  got  into 
the  right  hands,  he  confuses  the  issue.  He  alarms  the  con- 
scientious.    He  arouses  the  bigot.     He  allies  himself  with 


I50  VAIN  OBLATIONS 

the  wirepuller.     He  bribes  the  needy  or  the  drunken.     He 
flatters  the  partisan.     So  he  wins,  and  the  evil  goes  on. 

*  What  can  you  do  ?'  Realize  your  own  personal  responsi- 
bility as  part  of  the  social  organism.  See  clearly  the  moral 
claims  of  cleanliness,  fit  dwellings,  pure  water,  streams  free 
from  poison.  See  how  the  stunted  soul  is  cribbed  within 
the  stunted  body  in  the  City  slum ;  see  how  disease  and 
death  grow  out  of  the  miasma  that  you  need  not  live  near. 
'  It  does  not  touch  j^z/r  homes.'  No  !  but  that  only  deepens 
your  debt  to  the  community.  Some  of  the  men  and  women 
in  those  overcrowded  tenements,  those  airless  cellars,  those 
undrained  streets,  are  actually  producing  for  you  (in  the 
complex  interaction  of  social  conditions)  the  margin  of 
profit  or  economy  that  has  dra.med  your  house  or  has  kept 
the  roses  in  your  children's  cheeks. 

We  send  our  anarchists  to  the  guillotine,  but  why  do  we 
not  realize  that  we  may  be  ourselves  creating,  or  at  least 
permitting,  the  very  conditions  which  breed  the  discontent 
out  of  which  the  anarchist  makes  his  converts  ?  And  if  our 
own  conditions  raise  us  beyond  the  reach  of  any  such  hope- 
less propaganda,  do  we  realize  why  God  has  granted  them 
to  us  ?  Is  it  not  to  arouse  us  to  the  very  worth  and  need 
of  the  great  crusade,  on  behalf  of  the  less  happy?  Go 
home  to-night,  then,  and  plan  at  once  an  active  union  of 
a  few  resolute  friends,  who  shall  do  for  your  own  neigh- 
bourhood, or  for  some  less  favoured  quarter,  what  Mr. 
Horsley — to  his  lasting  honour — has  done  for  the  'Dust- 
hole  '  at  Woolwich.  Make  it  your  ambition,  for  Christ's 
sake,  to  count  up  the  number  of  unfit  dwellings  you  have 
helped  to  close,  of  cellars  you  have  emptied,  of  streets 
you  have  drained,  of  pure  supplies  of  water  you  have  seen 
given.  Or  go  down  to  the  Oxford  House  in  Bethnal 
Green  and  in  evenings  won  from  personal  pleasure  help 
those  who  are  fighting  like  evils  in  various  ways.  Or  send 
us  some  of  your  superfluous  money  to  the  White  Cross 
League  in  Dean's  Yard,  where  month  by  month  we  meet, 


VAIN  OBLATIONS  i^l 

and  out  of  a  failing  exchequer  strive  to  bring  home  to 
men's  consciousness  the  intimate  connection  between 
housing  and  immorahty ;  and  our  exchequer  fails,  because 
immorality,  though  it  blights  our  land,  is  'really  so  difficult 
to  mention.'  The  Bishops  do  not  know  how  to  make  their 
clergy  take  the  whole  question  up ;  and  the  clergy  are  often 
quite  sure  that  it  is  wisest  to  keep  silence  about  it ;  and  the 
men  of  Clubland  run  away  as  soon  as  the  subject  ceases  to 
be  risque  and  brings  home  God's  judgment  to  the  con- 
science ;  and  it  must  not  be  named  plainly  in  West-End 
Churches,  for  fear  of  offence.  Yet  if  every  man  who  reads  this 
were  to  send  us  ten  shillings  to-night,  we  could  do  such  a 
work  in  this  mission  as  we  have  never  yet  been  able  to  do. 

Can  you  do  all  this  and  make  no  enemies  ?     No,  you 
are  sure  to  make  enemies. 

Rejoice,  when  in  the  cause  of  sanitary  homes  you  are 
ill  spoken  of,  or  even  persecuted,  by  the  Scribes  and  Phari- 
sees of  modern  life,  the  men  who  whiten  the  sepulchre  in 
which  lies  buried  their  neighbours'  well-being  and  their  own 
eternal  hope.     P^or  the  real  root  of  these  evils  is  greed- 
greed  battening  on  defenceless  lives;  greed  defying  law; 
greed  prospering  on  the  degradation  of  the  poor.     If  ever 
you  engage  in  a  sanitary  fight,  you  will  find  in  it  a  clearer 
revelation  of  the  base  in  human  nature  than  in  almost  any 
other  conflict.     Oh  !  can  there  be  amongst  Christians  to-day 
anyone  who  ever  pockets  one  shilling  for  the  neglect  of 
needs  like  these?    anyone  who  cares  not,   so   long  as  he 
gets  his  rent,  to  ask  how  his  rent  is  earned  or  is  deserved  ? 
Then,  may  God  have  mercy  on  his  soul  !  for  drink,  disease, 
decay,  handed  on  by  heredity  to  another  generation,  thrive 
and   breed   and   prosper   herein.      The  casual   worker    is 
thus    degraded;    the   unemployed    is    thus   manufactured 
The  very  future  of  English  labour,  then,  rests  on  the  en- 
forcement of  sanitary  laws.     Expose,   therefore,  the  hypo- 
crisy  of   the    religious    rack-renter;    expose    the   lack    of 
patriotism  in  the  indifferent. 


152  VAIN  OBLATIONS 

How  many  an  infidel  is  created  by  such  evils,  who  shall 
say  ?  Can  we  do  less  than  wonder  at  the  supreme  patience 
of  the  poor,  to  whom,  though  they  be  her  own  children, 
England  at  the  present  price  of  City  land  cannot  give  the 
shelter  a  stepmother  might  not  grudge  the  least  valued  and 
the  least  loved  ? 

Economy?  By  all  means  let  us  have  economy,  if  it 
means  less  luxury,  less  waste,  less  indulgence ;  but  not  an 
economy  that  defeats  itself,  that  breeds  heathen,  that  de- 
grades labour,  that  bleeds  chastity  to  death. 

This  hateful  gospel  of  'getting  on,'  bred  of  laissez-faire 
economics  and  men's  selfishness  ;  this  craving  after  wealth ; 
this  rule  of  the  successful  usurer ;  this  '  rem,  quo  cunque 
modo  rem ' ;  this  competition  in  pleasure,  is  like  a  serpent 
winding  its  slimy  coils  round  the  strong  limbs  of  England. 
At  one  end  of  our  social  gradient  we  have  the  fortune- 
hunter,  who  has  forgotten  to  be  a  founder ;  at  the  other,  the 
undersized,  the  under-fed,  the  over-tempted,  the  sweated, 
and  the  workless. 

On  whom  does  it  depend  whether  these  things  can  be 
altered  ?  On  you  and  on  me — on  us,  with  ears  to  hear  and 
eyes  to  see.  Some  changes  in  the  law,  in  themselves  slight, 
would  do  much.  Let  us  demand  from  our  legislators  the 
extension  to  all  England  of  Ritchie's  Metropolitan  Act  of 
1891  ;  let  us  make  medical  officers  of  health  and  inspectors 
of  nuisances  irremovable,  save  with  consent  of  the  Local 
Government  Board ;  let  us  grade,  pay,  and  promote  them 
for  good  work  done ;  let  us  extend  to  England  the  Irish 
Labourers  Acts ;  let  us  write  must  for  may  in  all  sanitary 
legislation  ;  let  us  increase  our  inspectors  ;  let  fines  be  large 
enough  to  deter.  Let  us  give  to  candidates  for  our  division 
the  option  between  these  changes  and  the  loss  of  our  votes. 

But  let  us  also,  with  clean  hands  ourselves,  set  to  work  to 
create  a  higher  Church  tone  upon  these  matters.  Let  us 
put  pressure  from  such  changed  tone  upon  our  leaders, 
especially  our   ecclesiastical  leaders,    to   trust   the   English 


VAIN  OBLATIONS  153 

people  rather  than  the  London  vestries ;  to  push  forward 
sanitary  legislation  in  quarters  whither  God  has  sent  them 
on  purpose — legislation  in  which  for  the  jerry-builder  and 
the  slum-owner  there  shall  be  no  possibility  of  contracting 
out. 

A  united  Episcopate,  that  dared  to  originate  some  pro- 
posals on  City-betterment  or  on  a  municipal  death-duty,  if 
only  by  way  of  hint  to  a  Ministry,  and  to  suggest  the  ear- 
marking of  funds  thus  obtained,  that  they  might  only  be  used 
for  housing  the  poor,  might  fearlessly  face  a  few  worthless 
epigrams  even  from  peers,  strong  in  the  love  and  gratitude 
of  a  wider  brotherhood  amongst  suffering  populations. 

But  let  us  not  forget  ourselves.  '  Me,  me  adsum  qui 
feci.'  Our  tone  it  is  that  has  made  this  possible.  Why  and 
for  whom  have  we  voted  ?  For  doing  or  for  not  doing  what 
have  we  criticised  the  Home  Office  or  any  other  authority? 
Has  it  not  seemed  to  us  as  if  Lent  had  only  a  message  of 
penitence  for  the  neglect  of  some  spiritual  duty,  and  no 
bearing  upon  claims  such  as  these  ?  That  is  not  the  teach- 
ing of  theology,  if  its  Canon  still  includes  the  Jewish  pro- 
phets. That  is  not  the  teaching  of  the  Gospel,  if  the 
lesson  of  the  Gadarene  demoniac  has  still  a  meaning  for  the 
world. 

There  they  are,  our  demoniacs,  amongst  the  tombs  of  an 
insanitary  life,  possessed  with  the  devils  of  disease,  degra- 
dation, and  impurity ;  the  chains  of  law,  and  even  of  re- 
spectability, they  rend ;  really,  no  well-to-do  person  can 
always  safely  pass  that  way.     They  are  an  offence  unto  us. 

And  Christ  is  on  our  shores,  too — the  Christ  we  profess 
to  follow.  We  may  be  freed  from  our  devils  if  we  will ; 
but  we  must  pay  the  cost. 

VVe  can  have  our  outcasts  back,  clothed  by  a  living  wage, 
and  in  their  right  mind  for  culture  and  faith ;  but  we  must 
surrender  our  swine. 

If,  for  the  sake  of  the  human  hope  for  our  fellows,  we 
cannot  forego  our  comfort,  our  time,  much  less  the  dirty 


154  VAIN  OBLATIONS 

money  our  pigs  bring  us;  if  we  must  have,  even  at  this 
cost,  the  ground-rent  of  our  slums,  the  margin  that  comes 
to  us  out  of  ruinous  contracts  and  sweated  wages  and  high 
rents,  Christ  tells  us  plainly  that  we  are  no  followers  of  His, 
say  we  '  Lord,  Lord,'  as  loud  as  we  may. 

'  What  shall  we  do,  men  of  this  wealthiest  of  the  world's 
cities  ?  Shall  we  give  our  swine  to  save  our  fellows,  or 
shall  we  with  one  consent  entreat  the  Christ  '  to  depart  out 
of  our  coasts '  ? 


RECREATION. 

BY  THE 

HON.  AND  REV.  E.  LYTTLETON, 

HEADMASTER    OF    HAILEYBURY. 

'  Whether  therefore  ye  eat,  or 
drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to 
the  glory  of  God.' — i  CoR.  x.  31. 

THE  subject  of    this  morning's  sermon  is   a  very 
wide  one,  and  I  therefore  make  no  apology  for 
plunging  at  once  into  it.      What  is  recreation  ? 
is  our  first  question.     Secondly,   How  far  is  the 
true  idea  of  recreation  being  observed  at  the  present  time  ? 
Thirdly,  Is  there  anything  we  can  do  ? 

1.  A  moment's  reflection  will  convince  us  that  many  of 
the  prevailing  notions  about  recreation  fall  very  far  short  of 
the  meaning  of  the  word  itself.  There  is  a  strange  and 
striking  dignity  of  idea  in  this  word.  We  men  never  dare 
think  of  ourselves  as  creators  of  anything,  however  much  we 
may  flatter  ourselves  on  our  skill  in  fashioning  and  working 
with  a  given  material.  But  for  a  large  portion  of  our  lives 
we  speak  of  ourselves  as  re-creating,  or  bringing  into  being 
something  which  has  been  spent.  That  which  we  re-create 
is  spent  energy  ;  and  the  power  of  doing  this  is  one  of  the 
most  precious  of  those  with  which  we  have  been  endowed, 
and  yet,  in  the  common  notions  on  the  subject  there  is  much 
that  is  trivial  and  very  little  that  is  dignified.  People  talk 
and  think  of  recreation  as  if  it  meant  simply  bodily  exercise, 


156  RECREATION 

or  absolute  inertia,  or  some  empty  pastime.  But  if  the  word 
really  means  bringing  into  life  again  energies  that  are  failing, 
surely  it  points  to  something  higher  than  this. 

Recreation  depends  on  the  compound  character  of  men's 
being.  We  consist  of  body,  mind,  and  spirit,  and  the 
simple  fact  is  that  the  true  well-being  of  these  three  consti- 
tuents depends  on  the  harmonious  employment  of  all  three 
in  due  succession  and  in  orderly  proportion.  In  its  highest 
sense  recreation  is  not  rest,  except  in  the  sense  in  which 
that  word  is  applied  to  God's  unceasing,  unhasting  energy 
of  action  ;  but  it  is  a  change  of  activity.  Unless  there  has 
been  a  violation  of  natural  laws,  the  best  way  to  recruit  the 
mind  is  to  exercise  the  body.  This,  I  take  it,  we  all 
recognise  ;  but  we  are  less  alive  to  the  fact  that  the  best 
way  to  recruit  the  body  is  to  employ  the  mind.  Still  less 
do  we  clearly  perceive  that  the  truest  recreation  of  both 
body  and  mind  is  to  exercise  the  spirit.  You  will  say,  per- 
haps, that  when  a  man  is  thoroughly  tired  out  in  body  or 
mind  he  cannot  employ  other  faculties,  or,  if  he  does,  the 
effort  is  injurious.  But  I  answer  that  this  is  an  indication 
of  excess  which  requires  artificial  treatment,  and  is  a  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  harmonious  activity.  If  recreation  must 
take  the  form  of  inertia,  or  pure  idling,  it  is  a  sign  of  disease. 
If  the  mind,  for  instance,  is  so  exhausted  that  the  powers  of 
the  body  are  for  the  time  paralyzed,  no  doubt  there  has 
been  overstraining.  Our  bodies  ought  never  to  be  so  tired 
that  we  cannot  use  our  brains ;  and  neither  body  nor  brain 
should  demand  such  complete  inactivity  as  to  forbid  us  to  lift 
up  our  thoughts  in  prayer.  True  rest  is  a  change  of  activity. 
How  has  the  statesman  who  is  just  now  retiring  after  sixty 
years  of  unparalleled  expenditure  of  energy,  how  has  he 
maintained  the  well-being  of  bodily  and  mental  faculties 
through  all  these  years  ?  By  a  constant  succession  of  varia- 
tions of  activity.  There  is  the  secret !  Man  is  not  meant 
to  be  a  creature  of  one  activity.  That  is  why  our  religion 
consists  of  a  combination  of  faith  and  works.     That  is  why 


RECREATION  157 

the  character  of  our  Blessed  Lord  manifested  such  a  won- 
derful blending  of  the  active  and  the  contemplative  life — 
patient  and  prolonged  expenditure  of  energy  alternating  with 
the  solitary  hours  on  the  Galilean  hills.  People  often  talk 
with  enthusiasm  about  the  simple  creed  of  Christianity  being 
the  imitation  of  the  character  of  Christ.  If  it  be  so,  at  least 
let  us  recognise  this  double  element,  and  try  our  best  not  to 
deprive  our  social  or  political  or  philanthropic  energy  of  the 
unspeakably  precious  recreation  of  spiritual  communion  with 
the  Most  High. 

II.  So  much,  then,  for  the  principle  of  recreation.  The 
Anglo-Saxons  have  been  forward  in  giving  it  prominence  in 
the  national  life.  Our  idea  of  recreation  has  been  a  narrow 
one,  and  far  too  much  identified  with  bodily  exercise.  But 
still  it  has  played,  and  is  playing,  a  very  important  part  in 
our  development.  What,  then,  has  been  the  origin  and 
motive  power  of  our  national  games  ? 

Perhaps  I  should  be  rash  in  attempting  to  give  a  very 
positive  answer.  It  is  well  known  that  through  the  influence 
of  the  Puritans,  a  large  number  of  national  and  popular 
games  were  extinguished  during  the  seventeenth  and  eigh- 
teenth centuries,  and  it  seems  as  if  there  were  some  close 
connection  between  the  revival  of  games  and  the  rise  of  our 
great  industrial  system.  The  first  set  of  rules  for  the  game 
of  cricket  dates  from  1774,  just  five  years  after  Watt  took 
out  his  patent  for  the  steam-engine,  and  belonging  to  the 
same  decade  as  that  in  which  our  domestic  system  was  trans- 
formed into  a  factory  system  by  Hargreaves,  Arkwright,  and 
Crompton.  Does  it  not  look  as  if  the  increasing  industrial 
toil  led  our  energetic  operatives  to  find  the  needful  recrea- 
tion in  outdoor  games  ?  We  must  not  be  too  sure.  Cricket, 
for  many  a  long  year,  was  mainly  confined  to  the  youth  of 
the  upper  classes ;  but  still  we  should  not  forget  that,  during 
the  stimulus  of  competition  and  the  feverish  energy  of  work 
which  have  marked  the  last  thirty  years,  we  have  witnessed 
the    rise,   growth   and   popularization    of  football.     Surely 


158  RECREATION 

this  was  a  healthy  symptom !  Surely  the  introduction  of 
this  excellent  form  of  recreation  deserved  to  be  welcomed, 
as  a  sign  that  there  was  still  life  and  vigour  in  England  ? 

But,  alas  !  it  is  against  the  best  institutions  and  agencies 
that  Satan  puts  forth  his  greatest  strength.  The  tendency 
of  good  things  to  degenerate  is  the  saddest  feature  in  social 
life.  Let  us  look  closely  at  some  of  the  causes  of  decay  of 
our  great  English  game. 

It  has  not  been  necessary  for  anything  violent  to  be  done. 
If,  as  I  believe,  the  corruption  of  what  is  best  is  the  work 
of  our  watchful  spiritual  enemy,  he  had  a  pattern  before  him 
to  guide  him  in  his  work,  and  show  him  where  the  poison  could 
be  instilled  with  most  effect.  You  have  heard  enough,  and 
perhaps  more  than  enough,  of  the  corruption  of  our 
industrial  system.  Certain  it  is  that  there  are  vast  evils  con- 
nected with  it — interlaced  with  it,  and  so  incorporated  with 
it  that  the  best  men  are  well-nigh  in  despair  of  a  remedy. 
I  don't  wish  to  dwell  on  these,  but  to  remind  you  of  the 
cause.  Something  has  worked  secretly  and  silently  through 
all  these  years  and  gone  far  to  spoil  a  grand  fabric  of  English 
enterprise  and  energy.  What  is  it  ? — because  we  find  exactly 
the  same  cause  is  now  working  havoc  with  our  national 
games.  Whatever  it  is  let  us  recognise  it,  and  not  be  afraid 
to  call  it  by  its  true  name — for  its  true  name  is  '  covetous 
ness.' 

To  make  clear  what  I  mean  by  degeneracy,  let  us  con- 
trast the  two  following  pictures.  The  first  refers  to  cricket 
as  it  was  played  in  many  parts  of  the  country  some  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  years  ago.  A  club  was  formed,  including  men 
of  all  classes  of  society — the  sons  of  the  squire,  the  parson, 
the  local  gentry,  the  shopkeepers,  the  clerks  in  the  village, 
the  gardeners  and  men-servants  from  the  wealthier  houses. 
On  most  evenings  in  the  week  there  was  practice  on  the 
ground  in  the  squire's  park,  where  in  all  friendliness  these 
different  members  of  society  gathered  together  in  thoroughly 
healthy  play  ;  and  their  unity  was  still  further  cemented  by 


RECREATION  159 

the  good  spirit  evoked  in  the  weekly  matches.  Keen  rivalry 
without  bitterness,  honest  effort,  unselfishness,  manly  en- 
durance of  failure,  insight  into  others'  claims — all  these 
qualities  were  directly  encouraged  by  such  recreation  as 
this  ;  and  I  doubt  if  any  amusement  so  thoroughly  bene- 
ficial to  all  concerned  could  be  found  in  any  form  of  recrea- 
tion known  to  the  civilized  world.  Now,  this  has  not  wholly 
died  out  yet.  But  let  us  contrast  it  with  the  other  picture, 
representing  an  Association  football  match  in  the  north  of 
England.  A  club  has  been  formed  in  a  big  town.  How? 
Not  by  local  energy  and  love  of  the  native  country  district, 
but  by  a  company  with  a  keen  eye  to  profit.  Everything 
depends,  therefore,  on  the  gate-money,  as  it  is  known  that 
with  sufficient  inducements  20,000  or  30,000  people  can  be 
gathered  together  and  pay  so  much  a  head  to  see  an  exciting 
football  match.  But  to  make  it  exciting  the  play  must  be 
first-rate,  and  what  matter  if  the  players  have  no  con- 
nection whatever  with  the  locality  ?  The  players  are  only 
important  as  bearing  on  the  question  of  spectators.  So 
agents  are  sent  far  and  wide,  mostly  into  Scotland,  to 
secure  recruits  to  supplement  the  local  talent  if  there  is  any. 
Sometimes,  it  appears,  every  single  man  in  the  team  is  an 
importation.  From  eighteen  to  twenty-eight  years  of  age, 
these  young  fellows  are  paid  enormous  wages  ;  if  successful, 
they  can  command  their  own  price,  and,  so  far  from  having 
any  interest  in  the  particular  district  to  which  they  have  been 
allured,  their  chief  anxiety  is  to  let  it  be  known  that  they  are 
willing  to  transfer  themselves  to  any  other  club  or  company 
that  will  offer  higher  wages  than  they  are  now  receiving. 
This  goes  on  till  the  prime  of  their  youth  is  past,  and  they 
are  turned  out  into  the  world  unfit  to  learn  any  trade,  and 
almost  certain  to  be  burdens  on  their  country  as  long  as 
they  live.  And  among  the  spectators — so  far  has  the  Eng- 
lish instinct  for  fair  play  suffered  in  the  prevailing  frenzy — 
it  has,  I  am  told,  again  and  again  happened  that  the  life  of 
a  referee  at  the  end  of  a  match  is  hardly  safe  from  the  mob 


l6o  RECREATION 

of  disappointed  loafers  who  have  put  their  money  on  the 
losing  side,  and  are  ready  for  any  violence  against  him, 
though  they  know  he  has  only  done  his  duty. 

This  is  a  sad  and  sorry  sight,  my  friends ;  and  yet  even 
Association  football  was  for  a  few  years,  between  1870  and 
1880,  played  in  much  the  same  spirit  and  with  the  same 
good  effects  as  village  cricket.  Its  name  has  not  always 
been  the  mockery  that  it  now  is. 

Now,  what  are  the  chief  characteristics  of  these  two  forms 
of  so-called  recreation  ?  The  first  did  good  in  many  ways, 
but  its  chief  and  most  admirable  characteristic  was  the 
spirit  of  brotherliness. 

And  the  other?  The  other  does  harm  in  many  ways,  but 
its  chief  characteristic  is  the  spirit  of  estrangejne?it.  There 
is  no  evoking  of  local  patriotism ;  there  is  no  concord  be- 
tween the  managers  and  the  rank  and  file  ;  there  is  suspicion, 
born  of  greed,  and  smouldering  animosities,  because  every- 
body who  is  connected  with  the  arrangements  and  the  play 
is  bent  on  making  money. 

But  we  must  consider  some  collateral  and  less  direct 
effects  of  this  state  of  things.  So  vast  and  widespread  an 
organization  is  certain  to  tell  in  many  subtle  ways  on  the 
tone  of  society.  First,  there  is  the  mischief  that  looking- 
on  is  substituted  for  bodily  exercise.  We  have  no  right  to 
talk  of  national  games  unless  we  mean  games  that  are  played 
by  the  people  of  the  nation ;  but  we  are  drifting  to  a  state 
of  things  when  the  games  will  only  be  national  because 
Englishmen  look  at  them,  and  those  who  play  them  are 
paid  £,200  or  ;£3oo  a  year  for  doing  so.  Paid  players 
and  vast  hordes  of  idle  spectators— these  were  symptoms 
of  the  decline  of  Rome ;  but  we  have  a  feature  to  add 
peculiar  to  ourselves — our  spectators  come  together  by  the 
thousand  for  betting.  And  then  I  would  have  you  re- 
member that  the  unhealthy  excitement  caused  by  these 
public  displays  goes  far  to  corrupt  the  tone  wherever  foot- 
ball is  played.     Such  a  glamour  is  thrown  round  it   that  it 


RECREATION  i6i 

has  become  a  doubtful  question  among  some  energetic 
young  town  clergy  whether  they  ought  to  encourage  their 
lads  to  form  a  club  among  themselves,  the  truth  being  that 
as  soon  as  they  give  themselves  to  a  game  so  infected  with 
spurious  excitement  and  feverish  rivalry,  they  can  think  and 
talk  of  nothing  else.  This  means  that  the  mischief  spreads 
from  the  centres  of  excitement  and  corrupts  the  outlying 
districts,  where  there  was,  at  least,  a  hope  that  the  game 
might  be  played  in  its  primitive  simplicity. 

But  there  is  one  baneful  effect  of  this  state  of  things  less 
obvious  than  those  I  have  mentioned,  but  well  worth  con- 
sidering— I  mean  its  effect  on  the  tone  of  the  public  press. 
Consider  the  problem  set  before  newspaper  editors.  To 
make  a  living  for  them,  the  paper  must  sell,  and,  in  presence 
of  fierce  competition,  it  soon  becomes  recognised  that  pence 
must  flow  in  without  too  much  attention  being  paid  as  to 
the  quarter  whence  they  come.  What  the  average  mass  of 
people  require,  that  they  must  have,  or  the  sale  dwindles. 
Now,  what  do  average  people  require  ?  We  will  think  of 
the  way  a  working  man  spends  his  leisure.  In  the  afternoon 
he  witnesses  an  exciting  football  match ;  in  the  evening,  if 
he  has  the  chance,  he  goes  to  a  political  meeting — all  the 
more  readily  if  he  thinks  the  speaking  will  be  of  the  vitu- 
perative kind.  The  following  morning  he  buys  a  daily 
paper  which  professes  to  discuss  all  sorts  of  difficult  and 
complex  questions  relating  to  public  affairs.  Is  it  not  cer- 
tain that  his  appetite  by  this  time  has  been  quickened  and 
stimulated  in  the  direction  of  a  craving  for  excitement,  so 
that  if  by  chance  he  comes  across  some  impartial  and  well- 
balanced  decisions  in  the  paper  he  finds  them  intolerably 
dull  ?  He  is  learning,  not  only  to  feed  himself  on  excite- 
ment, but  on  that  special  form  of  excitement  which  comes 
from  being  a  spectator  of  a  conflict ;  and  his  natural  pro- 
pensity to  be  a  partisan  has  been  so  much  encouraged  that 
life  without  conflict  is  to  him  a  poor  and  tame  affair. 

Hence  the  peculiarly  modern  development  of  abusiveness 

II 


1 62  RECREATION 

in  politics  and  abusiveness  in  the  public  press.  A  news- 
paper must  not  only  take  a  side,  but  must  take  it  violently ; 
and  to  anyone  who  knows  anything  of  the  atmosphere  that 
surrounds  football  matches,  especially  in  the  North  of  Eng- 
land, it  will  not  appear  a  fanciful  or  far-fetched  inference  to 
say  that  this  woeful  eagerness  to  witness  sharp  conflict  is 
materially  quickened  by  the  prevalence  of  these  violent 
athletic  contests  in  which  a  score  of  paid  men  play  and 
20,000  look  on,  imbibing,  surely,  all  the  mischief  and  none 
of  the  benefits  that  belong  to  modern  athleticism.  If  there 
are  any  here  who  think  that  acute  party  spirit,  and  the  de- 
sire to  treat  politics  as  if  they  were  a  game  between  two 
sides,  are  favourable  symptoms  of  modern  social  life,  they 
may  be  content  to  acquiesce  in  modern  developments  of 
football.  But  those  who  do  not  may  surely  trust  that  some 
healing  influence  is  at  hand  to  save  the  tone  of  English 
public  life,  and  with  it  a  grand  English  game. 

I  do  not  deny  that  there  would  be  some  justification  for 
calling  this  a  needlessly  sombre  picture.  But  the  gloom  of 
it  is  relieved  by  enough  light  to  let  us  perceive  one  great 
and  encouraging  fact — the  presence  of  law.  It  is  a  violation 
of  the  law  of  brotherliness  which  has  wrought  the  sad  effects 
we  know  so  well  in  the  commercial  world ;  and  the  same 
violation  of  the  same  law  is  producing  the  same  effects  in 
athletics.  Let  us  take  heart  in  the  thought  that  this  lesson 
is  one  which  it  is  not  yet  too  late  for  us  to  learn.  We  need 
discipline  before  we  can  grasp  large  and  unfamiliar  truths, 
and  now  is  the  time  for  us  to  take  note  that  the  time  of 
discipline  is  at  hand — '  the  axe  is  being  laid  at  the  root  of 
the  trees.'     Is  there  anything,  then,  that  we  can  do  ? 

III.  First,  we  can  give  a  hearty  support  to  the  managers  of 
the  Rugby  Union,  who  are  doing  their  utmost  to  stem  the 
rising  tide  of  professionalism — not  as  men  who  are  merely 
consulting  a  passing  convenience,  but  as  those  who  in  a 
gallant  and  unpretending  way  are  doing  something  to  keep 
alive  the  true  idea  of  recreation.     That  is  one  thing.      But 


RECREATION  163 

as  regards  the  whole  question,  it  is  painfully  and  abundantly 
evident  that  we  have  here  a  disquieting  symptom  of  a  deep- 
seated  social  evil. 

To  lop  off  a  dead  branch  from  a  precious  tree  is  better 
than  nothing,  but  it  is  not  the  same  thing  as  curing  a  disease 
at  the  roots.  Covetousness  is  at  the  root  of  this  decaying 
branch  of  our  English  oak  ;  and  to  cure  a  deep-seated  evil 
your  remedies  must  go  deep  and  begin  early.  Men  of 
business  can,  if  they  choose,  train  up  their  sons  to  look  upon 
money  as  a  trust,  and  not  as  a  possession,  because  the  first 
condition  of  brotherliness  is  that  those  who  have  should 
know  themselves  as  stewards.  And  if  you  choose,  you  can 
do  more  than  this  ;  you  can  inspire  them  by  your  own 
example  with  a  true  view  of  the  meaning  of  life  and  of  the 
recreation  of  spent  energies.  God  has  placed  us  here  not 
to  become  wholly  absorbed  in  a  complex  commercial 
machine  of  our  own  fabrication,  nor  to  give  all  we  have  to 
the  building  up  of  a  muscular  body,  but  to  learn  the  great 
mystery  that  bodies  are  the  temples  of  mind  and  spirit,  and 
not  only  are  as  wonderful  in  structure,  but  are  also  immortal 
in  their  destiny ;  and  for  those  reasons,  and  those  only,  are 
they  to  be  jealously  guarded,  harmoniously  developed,  and 
lovingly  adapted  to  the  spiritual  service  of  oui  Incarnate 
Master,  Jesus  Christ. 


THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST,  AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC 
CREED. 


VERY  REV.  C.  W.  STUBBS, 

DEAN   OF   ELY,   AUTHOR  OF   'CHRIST  AND    DEMOCRACY,'   ETC 


I.  Town  Problems. 


*  And  many,  hearing  Jesus,  were 
astonished,  saying,  Is  not  this  the 
carpenter?  .  .  .  And  Pilate  said 
unto  Jesus,  Art  Thou  a  king  then?' 
— St.  Mark  vi.  3,  and  St.  John 
xviii.  37. 


A 


CARPENTER  or  a  king?     Which  was  He?     A 
workman  or  a  leader  of  men  ?     Let  us  think  ! 

The  Divine  Founder  of  our  rehgion,  the  great 
Head  of  our  Church,  is  known  in  the  sacred 
records,  and  has  been  designated  from  time  to  time  in  the 
long  history  of  Christian  society  by  many  names  and  many 
titles. 

Is  there  any  true  sense  in  which  it  is  right  for  you  and  me, 
without  irreverence,  to  speak  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  greatest 
of  social  emancipators,  the  most  potent  of  labour  leaders  ? 
I  think  so. 

Every  king  and  leader  of  men  is  enshrined  for  us  in  his 

own  age.     Indeed,  you  will  always  find,  I   think,  that  the 

best  history  of  any  age  is  to  be  found  in  the  biography  of  its 

hero  or  greatest  man. 

The  golden  age  of  classic  Greece  you  will  better  under- 


THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST  165 

Stand  if  you  think  of  it  as  the  age  of  Pericles ;  the  majesty 
of  imperial  Rome  when  you  think  of  it  as  the  age  of 
Augustus  ;  the  era  of  Italian  Renaissance  when  you  connect 
it  with  the  thought  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Michael  Angelo 
or  Raphael ;  the  epoch  of  the  Protestant  Reformation 
when  you  speak  of  it  as  the  times  of  Luther  and  Erasmus, 
and  Colet  and  More. 

But  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  King  of  the  kings  of 
men,  the  Flos  Reguni  Arturus  of  the  heroes  of  humanity, 
of  what  special  age  is  He  the  measure  ?  The  Christ  has  for 
His  times  all  times.  Not  the  first  century  only,  nor  the 
second,  nor  the  twelfth,  nor  the  sixteenth,  nor  the  nine- 
teenth, is  the  age  of  Christ.  '  The  present  days  are  His 
days,  and  we  are  His  contemporaries.' 

VARYING    PICTURES    OF    THE    CHRIST. 

But  when  we  try  to  picture  His  personality,  how  do  we 
think  of  Him  ?  Have  we — you  and  I,  Churchmen  of  the 
nineteenth  century — any  different  picture  of  the  Christ  in 
our  imaginations  than  the  Christians  of  the  first  century,  or 
the  fifth,  or  the  twelfth  ? 

It  would  be  strange  if  we  had  not.  For  certainly,  not 
only  the  strictly  theological,  but  the  imaginative  conception 
of  the  personality  of  the  Christ  has  varied  greatly  from  age 
to  age.  You  can  see  that  that  is  so  nowhere  more  vividly 
than  in  the  history  of  Christian  art. 

As  you  gaze  upon  the  earliest  Christian  pictures  in  the 
Roman  catacombs,  you  cannot  fail  to  recognise  that  the 
conception  of  Christ  which  was  conveyed  to  the  simple 
minds  of  the  men  of  the  second  and  third  century  by  the 
gay  and  winsome  figure  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  with  the 
happy  sheep  nestling  on  His  shoulder,  with  the  pastoral 
pipes  in  His  hand,  blooming  in  mortal  youth,  must  be 
very  different  to  that  of  the  men  of  a  later  age,  for  whom 
the  gracious  and  gentle  Pastor  has  given  place  to  the 
crucified  Sufferer,  depicted  in  countless  aspects  of  misery 


1 66  THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 

and  woe,  from  the  gaunt  and  ghastly  Crucifixes  and  Pietas 
and  Entombments  of  the  early  Florentines,  to  the  sublime 
dignities  of  Michael  Angelo  and  Tintoret  and  Coreggio. 

Nor,  again,  can  you  help  feeling  that  the  conceptions  of 
Christ's  personality  conveyed  to  the  Italian  Churchmen  of 
the  Middle  Ages  by  the  numberless  pictures  of  the  Madonna 
and  Child,  unfailing  in  their  sweet  and  gentle  lessons  of  the 
divinity  of  childhood  and  of  mother's  love,  must  be  far 
different  to  that  conveyed  to  the  Flemish  Christians  of  the 
fourteenth  century  by  such  a  picture  as  the  Van  Eycks' 
'Worship  of  the  Immaculate  Lamb,'  with  its  subhme  figure 
of  the  omnipotent  Christ,  the  King  in  glory,  enthroned  and 
crowned,  with  hands  outstretched  in  royal  priestly  benedic- 
tion of  the  world. 

Now,  looked  at  from  this  point  of  view,  what  should  you 
say  was  the  special  aspect  of  the  person  of  Christ  most 
characteristic  of  our  age  ?  Fifty  years  ago  I  think  it  would 
have  been  difficult  to  decide. 


THE    DIVINE    COMRADE. 

But  to-day  I  think  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  largely 
due  to  the  more  directly  historical  interest  awakened  by 
various  foreign  studies  of  Christ's  life  from  a  merely 
biographical  point  of  view,  and  largely  inspired  in  our  own 
country  and  Church,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  by  the 
spiritual  beauty  of  the  figure  of  Christ  as  represented  by  the 
Unitarian  Christian,  Dr.  Channing,  and  still  more  largely 
perhaps  by  the  conception  of  the  office  and  character  of 
Christ  as  the  federal  Head  of  humanity,  the  King  and  Con- 
summator  of  society,  and  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation 
as  the  consecration  of  all  human  life,  instilled  into  the 
whole  of  modern  theology  by  my  own  revered  Cambridge 
teacher,  Frederick  Denison  Maurice,  we  have  learned 
to  worship  a  more  human  Christ — kingly  and  Divine  still,  it 
is   true  —  commanding   our   reverence   and   devotion   and 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  167 

humility,  but  still  full  of  human  friendliness  and  sympathy 
and  love — a  Divine  comrade,  not 

'  Too  bright  and  good  for  human  nature's  daily  food,' 

ever  ready  to  help  and  guide  us  through  the  endless  moral 
perplexities  of  everyday  commonplace  existence,  ever  ready 
also  to  illuminate  for  us  with  some  far-reaching  principle  the 
difficult  modern  problems  of  history  and  politics  and  science, 
of  poetry  and  art,  of  trade  and  labour. 

Am  I  right  in  adding  those  last  words  ?  Is  there  any 
modern  reading  in  these  days  of  industrial  war,  competitive 
industry  and  of  an  economic  system, 

'  Where  faster  and  faster  our  iron  master, 
The  thing  we  are  made  for,  ever  drives. 
Bids  us  grind  treasure  and  fashion  pleasure 
For  other  hopes  and  other  lives  ' — 

is  there  any  modern  reading,  I  say,  in  such  days  of  the 
Christ  message,  '  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labour '  ?  Is 
the  Christ  really  '  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever '? 
Let  us  go  back  and  feel  once  more,  if  we  can,  the  signifi- 
cance of  that  life  manifested  in  Nazareth  all  those  years  ago. 

THE    DEMOCRATIC    NOTE    OF    THE    GOSPEL. 

There  is  no  fact,  my  friends,  more  removed  from  contro- 
versy than  this,  that  Christianity  arose  out  of  the  common 
people,  and  was  intended  in  their  interest.  When  Christ 
came,  He  came  as  a  poor  man  in  the  outward  rank  of  an 
artisan.  He  was  a  true  child  of  the  people.  In  the  very 
Song  of  Praise  which  burst  forth  from  His  mother's  lips, 
when  she  knew  that  of  her  was  the  Christ  to  be  born,  the 
democratic  note  is  first  sounded  which  has  echoed  on 
through  the  history  of  the  Church. 

THE    BIRTH-SONG   OF   DEMOCRACY. 

You  and  I  are  so  familiar  with  the  words  of  the  Magni- 
ficat^ as  we   sing    them  day  by  day  at  evensong    in  our 
Churches,  that  in  all  probability  we  miss  the  significance  of 


i68  THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 

that  note.  But  when  the  Church,  evening  after  evening, 
all  through  the  parishes  of  Christendom,  is  singing  this 
hymn,  she  is  unconsciously  foretelHng — the  most  ignorant 
and  prejudiced  of  her  priests  are  foretelling — that  greatest 
of  all  evolutions,  which  the  Mother  of  Jesus  saw  to  be 
involved  in  the  birth  and  work  of  Christ.  To  Mary,  at  that 
moment  of  inspiration  in  which  her  lips  poured  forth  this 
birth-song  of  democracy,  was  revealed  the  stupendous 
reversal,  political  and  social,  which  the  birth  of  the  Son  of 
God,  as  the  Son  of  man,  as  the  Son  of  a  poor  carpenter's 
wife,  was  bound  sooner  or  later  to  produce  in  all  the  world. 
You  will  find  that  same  democratic  note,  the  note  of 
social  passion,  struck  by  the  Son  of  that  same  socialist  mother 
and  carpenter's  wife,  when  in  the  full  blush  of  manhood  He 
stood  for  the  first  time  face  to  face  with  his  brother  men  in 
the  synagogue  of  Nazareth  : 

'  The  spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  Me, 
Because  He  anointed  Me  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor  : 
He  hath  sent  Me  to  proclaim  release  to  the  captives, 
And  recovery  of  sight  to  the  bhnd, 
To  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised, 
To  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord.' 

No  wonder  that  the  common  people  heard  Him  gladly^ 
and  listened  with  delight  to  the  gracious  words  that  pro- 
ceeded out  of  His  mouth. 

It  would  have  been  strange  had  they  not  done  so,  when 
we  remember  how  completely  such  doctrine  seemed  to 
satisfy  the  popular  ideal.  Of  all  histories,  the  history  of  the 
Israelites  is  the  one,  notwithstanding  the  outward  form  of 
their  national  constitution,  in  which  the  democratic  spirit 
most  constantly  predominates.  No  tribunes  of  the  people 
had  ever  been  so  bold  as  the  prophets  of  Israel.  They  were, 
in  fact,  the  champions  of  popular  liberty  and  popular 
justice  at  a  time  when  those  virtues  met  with  little  regard 
from  either  priests  or  kings.  The  thought  that  God  was 
the  Protector  of  the  poor,  and  the  Avenger  of  the  oppressed, 
was  to  be  found  in  every  page  of  their  writings.     When, 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  169 

therefore,  Christ  stood  up  for  the  first  time  to  speak  to  the 
people,  He  could  not  well  find  words  more  clearly  expressing 
the  popular  hope  and  longing,  than  those  which  he  quoted 
from  the  great  statesman-prophet  of  His  country. 

True,  His  after-teaching  and  life  must  have  seemed  as 
little  short  of  mockery  to  those  whose  passionate  enthusiasm 
for  the  redemption  of  Israel  centred  in  the  expectation  of  a 
mihtant  and  world-conquering  Christ.  When,  for  example, 
in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  He  ascribed  the  heroic 
character  to  those  citizens  of  His  kingdom  who  were  not 
proud  and  rich,  valiant  and  strong,  but  meek-hearted,  self- 
controlled,  peacemakers,  childlike,  innocent,  simple.  His 
teaching  must  have  come  as  a  chilling  disappointment  to 
the  popular  hopes  of  His  day ;  yet  in  reality,  if  you  will  think 
of  it,  that  Sermon  did  in  reality  contain  the  Popular  Charter 
of  the  world's  liberties,  did  inaugurate  as  vast  a  revolution 
as  the  world  has  ever  known ;  for  beneath  those  Beatitudes 
of  the  New  Kingdom  Christ  had  placed  a  principle  which 
proved  itself  not  only  the  most  powerful  solvent  of  ancient 
civilization,  but  also  the  great  motive  force  in  the  pro- 
gressive social  order  of  the  present. 


THE    MOTHER-IDEA    OF    CHRISTIAN    CIVILIZATION. 

It  is  the  contention,  indeed,  of  those  who  accept  the 
Christian  philosophy  of  history  as  the  true  one,  that  the 
struggle  for  liberty  in  its  various  forms  which  has  in  effect 
been  the  subject  of  the  civil  history  of  modern  Europe  since 
the  time  of  Christ,  is  directly  to  be  traced  to  the  primary 
Christian  doctrine  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  human  soul 
as  such.  That,  it  may  be  said,  is  a  spiritual  idea.  True, 
but  it  is  a  spiritual  idea  which  easily  bears  translation  into  a 
political  one. 

And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  is  exactly  what  did  happen. 
We  have  no  time  now  to  enter  upon  the  historical  retrospect 
that  would  make  that  plain. 


170  THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 

SLAVERY    AND    PATERNAL    DESPOTISM. 

You  have  only  to  think,  however,  of  the  revolutionary 
force  which  Christianity  exerted  on  the  civil  order  of  the 
ancient  world,  not  only  in  its  effect  on  the  institution  of 
slavery,  upon  which  the  civil  order  of  Greece  and  Rome  was 
economically  based,  but  also  its  mitigation  and  final  aboli- 
tion of  the  despotism  of  paternal  power,  which  was  the 
dominant  idea  in  the  family  life  of  Grseco-Roman  civiliza- 
tion, to  see  how  far-reaching  has  been  that  principle. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  there  may  be  those  in  this  church 
who  will  think  that  I  am  hazarding  a  bold  pretension  when 
I  claim  the  abolition  of  slavery  as  a  Christian  achievement. 

Well,  I  am  quite  aware  that  slavery  lasted  in  Europe  down 
to  the  thirteenth  century,  and  that  it  is  the  fashion  in  these 
days  to  contend  that  slavery  perished  owing  to  purely 
secular  causes — the  '  march  of  intellect,'  the  discoveries  of 
science,  the  utilization  of  steam  power,  the  natural  rise  in 
the  standard  of  comfort,  and  so  forth. 

But,  my  friends,  can  you  honestly  think  so  ?  The  march 
of  intellect  indeed  !  Why,  the  race  that  gave  birth  to  Plato, 
Socrates,  Aristotle,  Sophocles,  Phidias,  Euclid,  Archimedes, 
and  Ptolemy  could  not  even  conceive  of  a  state  of  society 
where  slavery  should  not  exist.  Civilization  appeared  to 
them  to  require  the  servitude  of  the  masses  as  its  necessary 
foundation. 

It  was  not  cruelty  or  callousness  that  prompted  Aristotle 
to  divide  '  tools '  into  two  classes,  '  living '  and  '  lifeless,' 
and  to  place  *  slaves  '  in  the  first  class.  It  was  not  want  of 
intellect ;  //  zvas  zvant  of  faith  in  human  ?iature. 

CHRIST   THE    SLAVE    OF    HUMANITY. 

'  Who  would  do  the  scullion  work  in  the  great  household 
of  humanity  if  there  were  no  slaves  ?' 

This  was  the  question  that  perplexed  the  great  philosophers 
of  antiquity.    This  was  the  question  which  Christ  answered 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  171 

by  making  Himself  the  slave  of  mankind  and  classing  Him- 
self among  the  scullions.  It  was  not  the  '  teaching '  so 
much  as  the  'doing'  and  the  'being.'  The  spirit  that 
dictated  the  words,  '  Even  as  the  Son  of  man  came  not  to 
be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a 
ransom  for  many,'  dictated  also,  do  not  forget  it,  the  death 
upon  the  cross.  It  is  that  spirit  which  has  destroyed 
slavery  in  every  Christian  land ;  it  is  that  spirit  which  will 
establish  one  day  a  true  social  order  upon  earth — a  kingdom 
of  heaven  on  earth,  in  which  '  Christ  shall  be  all  and  in  all.' 

'  THE    MILLS    OF    GOD    GRIND    SLOWLY.' 

True,  the  spirit  of  Christ  has  never  yet  been  fully  obeyed, 
or  even  understood  by  all  His  followers ;  but  upon  the  day 
in  which  it  is  obeyed,  in  which  it  is  understood,  life  on 
earth  will  be  life  in  heaven.  But,  my  friends,  you  must 
not  expect  everything  in  eighteen  hundred  years.  Astro- 
nomy, geology,  biology,  are  three  voices  which  all  remind 
us  that  the  hand  of  God  works  slowly.  The  student  of 
evolution  tells  us  that  it  took  several  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  centuries  to  change  a  beast  into  a  man ;  it  may  well  take 
as  many  centuries  to  change  earth  into  heaven,  the  kingdom 
of  man  into  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  Christ. 

CHARACTER    OF    CHRISt's    LEADERSHIP. 

But  meanwhile  it  is  important  for  you  and  me  that  we 
should  be  on  the  right  track.  And  for  myself  I  know  of 
no  better  way  of  assuring  ourselves  of  that  than  by  taking 
care  that  we  are  treading  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Divine 
workman  of  Nazareth.  Jesus  Christ  must  be  our  Leader. 
But  we  must  not  misunderstand  the  character  of  His 
leadership. 

not    a    CONSTITUTION-MONGER. 

Jesus  Christ  will  not  furnish  us  with  any  ready-made 
scheme  for  a  new  and  perfect  human   society.     He  is  a 


172  THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 

social  emancipator.  Yes,  but  not  a  politician,  not  a  con- 
stitution-monger, not  even  in  the  strict  sense  a  legislator. 
You  may  go  to  His  teaching  for  principles,  for  seed-thoughts, 
for  inspiring  motives,  but  you  will  find  nothing  there  to 
hamper  free  human  growth,  for  God  has  supplied  men 
with  faculties  to  frame  social  institutions  for  themselves, 
and  Christ  will  leave  these  faculties  free  to  work.  He  will 
emancipate,  but  He  will  not  compel.  He  has  left  no 
authoritative  precedents  in  regard  to  things  which  men  can 
manage  for  themselves.  For  He  knew  that  it  is  not  possible 
to  walk  by  the  letter  and  by  faith  at  the  same  time.  The 
true  Christian  society  was  to  be  ruled  not  by  a  fixed  code 
of  particular  rules,  but  by  an  indwelling  spirit.  The  Christ- 
ian disciples  of  all  ages  were  to  regard  their  Master's 
example  as  a  sacred  rule,  but  they  were  to  go  to  the  record 
of  His  words  and  deeds,  not  as  to  a  civil  statute-book 
where  they  might  expect  to  find  the  ethical  difficulties  of 
all  time  scheduled  and  codified,  but  they  were  to  go  to  it 
as  to  a  well-spring  of  spiritual  influence,  where  they  might 
imbue  themselves  '  with  the  same  mind  that  was  in  Him,' 
and  let  their  own  behaviour  afterwards  flow  freely  from  it. 

'  SOMETHING    MORE  '    THAN    ACTS    OF    PARLIAMENT. 

My  friends,  when  sanitation,  and  education,  and  science, 
and  political  reform,  and  socialistic  legislation,  and  the 
organization  of  labour,  have  all  done  their  best  and  failed, 
as  they  all  undoubtedly  will  fail,  unless  something  inore  is 
also  added,  then  I  trust  that  we  shall  all  of  us,  whether  rich 
or  poor,  capitalist  or  labourer,  begin  to  find  out  what  that 
somethmg  more  is.  Then  we  shall  begin  to  perceive  that, 
after  all,  it  is  not  new  Acts  of  Parliament  that  are  needed. 
Employers'  Liability  Bills,  Boards  of  Arbitration  and  Con- 
ciliation, Labour  Bureaux,  an  eight-hours  working  day,  but 
a  new  spirit,  a  spirit  of  mutual  concession  in  both  in- 
dividuals and  classes,  a  spirit  of  frank  justice  on  the  part  of 
both  capitalist  and  workman,  recognising  that  the  loss  of 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  173 

one  cannot  be  the  gain  of  another  in  the  unity  of  the  one 
life,  a  spirit  of  love,  and  self-control,  and  self-sacrifice  as 
apparent  in  the  life  of  the  Family,  of  the  Class,  of  the  Nation, 
of  the  Church,  as  in  the  life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

CHRISTIAN-SOCIALISM    OR    SOCIAL-CHRISTIANISM. 

That  spirit,  and  that  alone,  as  I  believe,  will  enable  us  to 
apply  our  knowledge  and  our  wills  to  settle  Land  questions, 
Church  questions.  Labour  questions,  to  address  ourselves 
steadily  to  the  work  of  Christianizing  Socialism,  or  Socializing 
Christianism  (I  care  not  how  you  phrase  it),  of  honouring 
and  encouraging,  of  consecrating,  of  nationalizing  the  labour 
classes,  while  never  unwisely  pampering  them ;  of  dis- 
honouring and  discouraging  and  denationalizing  the  idle 
classes,  and  never  ignorantly  establishing  and  endowing 
them,  teaching  them  that  as  the  Divine  Workman  of 
Nazareth  was  subject  to  law,  so  must  they  be  subject  to 
law ;  that  as  He  bore  suffering  for  the  good  of  His  brother 
men,  so  must  they  be  prepared  to  suffer  and  to  serve  for 
their  comrades  and  fellows. 

THE    workman's    COMRADE-KING. 

Ah,  friends,  to  this  we  come  at  last,  that  all  depends  on 
knowing  Christ  more  perfectly  !  And  that  we  shall  never 
do  until  we  have  all  learnt  to  cast  out  that  spirit  of  Anti- 
christ which,  while  admitting  Christ's  Divinity,  denies  His 
Humanity,  and  have  learnt  to  throw  ourselves  in  perfect 
trust  and  faith  on  Him,  whose  whole  life  and  character  is 
the  witness  for  the  ultimate  supremacy  of  love  over  all 
human  society.  We  must  learn — as  I  said  at  the  outset — 
to  realize  the  human  Christ,  the  Carpenter  of  Nazareth,  the 
great  Companion,  ever  ready  to  bestow  His  friendship  where 
it  is  most  needed,  ever  the  Emancipator  of  the  captive  and 
the  oppressed,  the  Champion  of  the  wronged,  of  the  fallen, 
of  the  guilty,  of  the  victims  of  Pharisaism  and  hypocrisy 
and  greed  and  passion ;  the  Friendly   Christ,  who   had  a 


174  1'^-E^  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 

heart  for  the  poor,  and  wanted  to  turn  the  world  upside 
down,  but  did  not  expect  to  do  it  in  a  day  or  a  year,  but  was 
satisfied  to  go,  apparently,  a  long  way  round  to  do  it,  but  in- 
tended to  do  it  at  last  and  conquer. 

This  then,  my  friends,  or  something  like  it,  is  the  imagi- 
native conception  of  the  Personality  of  the  Christ  that  we 
want ;  at  least,  this  is  the  Christ,  as  it  seems  to  me,  which 
the  English  workman  wants,  and  at  any  rate  of  this  I  am 
certain,  that  he  at  least  will  never  consent  to  accept  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  true  Son  of  God  until  he  has  first  learnt  to 
realize  Him  as  a  true  Son  of  Man. 

And  further  than  this,  I  am  sure  that  we  shall  never 
persuade  the  labour  classes  of  this  country,  ahenated  as, 
alas  !  in  too  large  a  degree  they  are  from  recognised  Church 
influences,  to  accept  this  conception  of  Christ,  as  Saviour, 
Leader  and  King,  or,  indeed,  any  conception  of  Christ  worthy 
of  the  name  of  Saviour  at  all,  whether  personal  or  social, 
until  they  see  that  we,  the  professed  followers  of  Christ, 
Churchmen  as  we  call  ourselves,  whether  Conformist  or  Non- 
conformist, are  prepared  to  put  our  Church  creed  into 
touch  with  our  daily  secular  life,  the  life  of  Trade,  Com- 
merce, Politics. 

They  will  say  to  us — and  rightly  say  to  us — *  You  may 
stand  up  in  your  churches  week  by  week,  day  by  day,  and 
publicly  and  solemnly  confess  your  Church's  Creed,  handed 
down  to  you  from  a  long  antiquity ;  but  what  we  want  to 
know  is  this.  Are  you  willing  to  read  into  that  Creed  these 
clauses  which  we  seem  to  think  you  ought  to  have  learnt 
from  the  Spirit  of  the  Christ  of  To-Day  ?' 

THE  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

1.  We  believe  that  in  all  the  disputes  and  conflicts,  in- 
dustrial, social,  political,  which  rend  the  body  politic  of 
this  Christian  State  to-day,  the  prime  necessity  is  frank 
Justice  between  class  and  class. 

2.  We  believe  that  the  first  principle  of  Christian  Justice 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  175 

is  this,  that  the  loss  of  one  cannot  on  the  whole  be  the  gain 
of  another  in  the  unity  of  the  one  life. 

3.  We  beheve  that  the  first  principle  of  Christian  Liberty 
is  this — freedom,  not  to  do  what  one  likes,  but  freedom  to 
do  what  one  ought,  and  that  therefore  respect  for  individual 
rights  should  never  blind  us  to  the  higher  reverence  which 
we  owe  to  social  duty. 

4.  We  believe  that  the  first  principle  of  Christian  Equality 
is  not  equality  of  distribution,  but  equality  of  consideration, 
which  may  be  expressed  in  the  maxim  that  every  man  is  to 
count  for  one,  and  no  man  for  more  than  one. 

5.  We  believe  that  the  first  principle  of  Christian  Frater- 
nity is  that '  we  are  all  one  man  in  Christ,'  and  that  no  man 
can  say  sincerely,  '  Our  brothers  who  are  on  earth,'  who  has 
not  previously  learnt  to  say,  '  Our  Father  which  art  in 
heaven.' 

6.  We  believe  that  the  competition  of  trade  has  been  as- 
similated to  the  competition  of  war,  and  stands  condemned 
by  the  assimilation. 

7.  We  believe  that  in  Christ's  kingdom  the  law  of  life  is 
service,  not  competition,  and  that  no  money,  therefore,  is 
legitimately  earned  which  is  not  an  exchange  value  for 
actual  services  rendered — services  which  minister  to  life  and 
help  on  the  common  good  —  and  that  consequently  no 
wealth  is  honest  which  is  accumulated  by  taking  advantage 
of  the  weakness  or  the  ignorance  of  our  neighbours,  and 
rendering  them  no  equivalent  in  reciprocal  service. 

8.  We  beheve  that  society  exists  not  for  the  sake  of 
private  property,  but  private  property  for  the  sake  of  society. 

9.  We  believe  that  the  right  use  of  property  must  be  in- 
sisted upon  as  a  religious  duty ;  that  as  capital  arises  from 
common  labour,  so  in  justice  it  should  be  made  to  minister 
to  common  wants. 

I  o.  We  believe  that  wealth  does  not  release  the  rich  man 
from  his  obligation  to  work,  but  only  enables  him  to  do 
unpaid  work  for  society  ;  the  only  difference,  indeed,  accord- 


176  THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 

ing  to  Christian  ethics,  between  the  rich  man  and  the  poor 
man  seeming  to  be  this — that  the  poor  man  receives  his 
wages  at  the  end  of  the  week,  and  does  not  get  them  unless 
his  work  is  first  done ;  whereas  the  wealthy  man  receives 
his  wages  first,  and  is  bound  as  a  matter  of  honour  to  earn 
them  afterwards. 

1 1.  We  believe  that  it  is  not  the  equalization  of  capital 
that  is  needed,  but  its  moralization. 

12.  We  believe  that  as  all  life  is  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  the  Church  of  Christ  is  concerned  in  the  ways  of  His 
disciples,  however  secular  they  may  seem  to  be,  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  Christian  citizen  to  build  up,  as  far  as  his  in- 
fluence extends,  the  life  of  the  great  civic  brotherhood  to 
which  he  belongs,  and  of  every  sphere  of  action  which  it 
contains  in  justice,  righteousness,  and  the  fear  of  God. 

13.  We  believe,  therefore,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Christian  city,  in  the  interests  of  its  citizens,  to  provide, 
first,  for  the  three  essentials  of  physical  Hfe— pure  air,  pure 
water,  pure  food ;  and,  secondly,  for  the  three  essentials  of 
spiritual  life — admiration,  hope  and  love  ;  and  with  these 
objects  in  view,  we  believe  that  such  a  city  will  take  legal 
measures  to  prevent  the  pollution  of  air,  water,  food ;  will 
preserve  open  spaces  and  town  gardens ;  will  provide  play- 
ing-fields and  gymnasiums  and  baths  in  connection  with  all 
elementary  public  schools  ;  will  pass,  not  only  a  Sunday 
Closing  Act  for  public-houses,  but  a  Sunday  Opening  Act 
for  public  libraries,  museums,  art  galleries,  and  other  draw- 
ing-rooms of  the  people. 

14.  W^e  believe  that  in  such  a  city  the  citizens  will  have 
full  control  over  the  regulation  and  license  of  all  trade,  and 
that  the  drink  traffic  as  at  present  organized,  standing  con- 
demned by  Christian  principle,  will,  if  not  suppressed  alto- 
gether, be  very  largely  curtailed,  and  in  the  meantime, 
compelled  to  compensate  the  ratepayers  of  the  city  for  the 
increase  of  poor  rate  and  police  rate  directly  traceable  to 
its  influence. 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  177 

15.  We  believe  that  in  any  truly  Christian  city  there 
would  undoubtedly  be  a  by-law  of  the  Council  suppressing 
the  scandalous  indecencies  of  the  Divorce  Court,  and  the 
brutalizing  horrors  of  the  Police  Courts  in  the  public 
prints,  and  prohibiting  the  publication  in  any  newspaper  of 
all  betting  lists,  the  odds  on  sporting  events,  and  any  infor- 
mation likely  to  stimulate  gambling,  whether  on  the  Turf  or 
the  Stock  Exchange. 

16.  We  believe  that  the  conception  of  family  life  is  not 
only  human,  but  Divine,  and  that,  therefore,  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  to  unite  men  in  actively  opposing 
the  corruption  of  national  and  social  life,  which  springs 
from  neglect  of  the  principle  that  personal  purity  is  of 
universal  obligation  upon  man  and  woman  alike ;  and,  when 
necessary,  to  co-operate  with  the  civil  and  municipal  autho- 
rities in  police  efforts  for  the  repression  of  prostitution  and 
the  degradation  of  women  and  children. 

17.  We  believe,  finally,  that  Christ's  whole  earthly  life  is 
a  direct  command  to  His  Church  to  spend  a  large  part  of 
her  time  and  energy  in  fighting  against  all  circumstances 
and  conditions  of  living  which  foster  disease  and  hinder 
health ;  in  delivering  people  from  evil  environment  and 
fatal  heredity ;  that,  in  fact,  the  whole  secular  history  of  the 
Church  should  be  an  endeavour  to  realize  in  act  the  daily 
petition  of  her  dominical  prayer,  '  Father  !  Thy  kingdom 
come.     Thy  will  be  done,  on  earth  f 


178  THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 


II.  Village  Problems. 

*  And  Jesus  gave  them  authority 
.  .  .  and  sent  them  forth  to  preach 
the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
.  .  .  and  they  departed^  and  tvent 
throughout  the  villages  preaching 
and  healing  everywhere.'  —'^1.  LUKE 
ix.  2-6. 

ISFOKE  to  you  yesterday  of  one  aspect  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Supremacy  of  Christ  in  human  Hfe.     1 
tried  to  suggest  to  your  imaginations  such  a  picture 
of  Christ's  Personahty  as  should  not  seem  to  be  out 
of  harmony  with  a  conception  of  Him  as   the  greatest  of 
Social  Emancipators,  the  most  potent  of  Labour  Leaders. 

It  was  not,  of  course,  that  I  do  not  recognise  that  Christ 
was  more  than  this ;  that  His  Supremacy  meant  more  than 
the  supremacy  of  principle  in  the  realm  of  Social  Politics 
or  Labour  Ethics.  It  must  indeed  be  of  the  essence  of 
any  true  faith  in  Jesus,  of  any  vital  belief  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  Pre-incarnate  Word  and  the  Incarnate  Christ,  that  He 
should  be  recognised  as  Supreme  over  all  realms  of  thought  or 
action — history,  philosophy,  ethics,  art,  poetry,  trade  politics, 
science — and  that  it  is  in  consequence  of  that  claim  that 
the  moral  character,  no  less  than  the  intellectual  attitude  of 
every  one  of  His  baptized  disciples,  should  be  affected  and 
influenced  by  His  Spirit. 

For  what  does  that  doctrine  of  Christ's  Supremacy,  of 
Christ's  Kinghood,  whether  we  regard  the  question  from  the 
point  of  view  on  the  one  hand  of  Evolution,  or  on  the  other 
of  the  Incarnation,  imply? 

It  means,  in  the  first  place — does  it  not  ? — that  God  has 
a  plan  for  the  world  ;  it  means  that  order  and  progress  in 
human  civilization  is  real ;  it  means  that  the  cry  of  the 
cynic  and  the  social  agnostic — 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  179 

'  Fill  the  can,  and  fill  the  cup, 

All  the  windy  ways  of  men 
Are  but  dust  that  rises  up. 

And  is  lightly  laid  again  : 
Drink  to  lofty  hopes  that  cool 

Visions  of  a  Perfect  State  : 
Drink  we  last  the  Public  Pool, 

Frantic  love  and  frantic  hate — ' 

is  not  only  not  true,  but  is  a  gross  blasphemy  against  God's 
purpose  for  humanity ;  it  means  that  God  has  for  the 
world  a  great  educational  plan,  by  which  both  the  perfection 
of  the  individual  and  the  perfection  of  the  race  is  to  be 
accomplished ;  it  means  that  in  the  development  of  that 
plan  each  age  of  the  world  has  its  own  special  work  to  do  ; 
it  means  that  progress  is  not  only  a  vital  fact  of  human 
existence,  but  that  it  is  its  vital  law ;  it  means  that  there  is 
a  Christian  ideal  for  society,  that  there  ts  a  social  order 
which  is  the  best,  and  that  towards  this  order  the  world  is 
gradually  moving  ;  it  means  that  Christ,  as  the  Eternal  Word 
of  God,  has  always  been,  and  is  still,  the  acting  organ  of 
creation  and  Providence,  ever  operating  in  the  region  be- 
hind phenomena,  the  originating  cause  of  all  energy,  all 
life,  all  thought ;  it  means  that  Christ,  '  in  becoming  in- 
carnate, did  not  desert  the  rest  of  His  creation,'  but  is  the 
quickening  impulse  of  all  that  is  best  in  what  we  call 
modern  civilization,  the  nourisher  of  new  graces  in  the  ever- 
widening  circles  of  the  Family,  the  Society,  the  State,  the 
inspirer  of  art  and  literature  and  morals  and  government, 
by  lifting  them  all  into  a  higher  atmosphere  of  hopefulness, 
of  faith  in  the  ideal,  than  was  ever  possible  until  He  came, 
*  the  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church,  the  Fulness  of 
Him  which  filleth  all  in  all.' 

That  is  the  aspect  of  Christian  faith,  at  any  rate,  which  in 
the  opinion  of  the  Social  Union,  which  has  projected  this 
course  of  special  Lenten  sermons,  there  seems  a  special 
need  to  press  upon  the  consciences  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity at  the  present  day.  It  is  this  aspect  of  the  faith 
which  inspires  the  three  great  rules  of  our  Union,  and  which 


l8o  THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 

prompts   the   demand   we   make   upon    each    one   of  our 
members  to  be  ready  : 

1.  To  claim  for  the  Christian  law  the  ultimate  authority 
to  rule  social  practice. 

2.  To  study  in  common  how  to  apply  the  moral  truths 
and  principles  of  Christianity  to  the  social  and  economical 
difficulties  of  the  present  time. 

3.  To  present  Christ  in  practical  life  as  the  living  Master 
and  King,  the  enemy  of  wrong  and  selfishness,  the  power  of 
righteousness  and  love. 

No  one,  I  think,  can  doubt  that  much  progress  has  been 
made  during  the  last  ten  or  twenty  years  in  '  preaching  this 
Gospel  of  the  kingdom,'  in  bringing  home  to  the  hearts  of  the 
people  that  the  message  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  mission  of  His 
Church  to  the  present  age,  is  a  social  message,  a  social 
mission. 

But  much  yet  remains  to  be  done ;  and  nowhere  more,  I 
think,  is  this  social  mission  of  Christ's  Church  necessary 
than  in  the  country  parishes  of  England.  There  is  no  class 
of  men  in  the  country — and  I  speak  what  I  know,  for  I  have 
been  a  country  parson  myself,  and  have  lived  among  them 
for  nearly  twenty  years — more  self-sacrificing,  more  earnest- 
minded,  more  generous-hearted,  taken  as  a  whole,  than  the 
rural  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  and  yet  one  may  be 
pardoned,  I  think,  if  sometimes  one  ventures  to  doubt 
whether  they  all  quite  sufficiently  appreciate  the  width  and 
largeness  of  the  mission  of  preaching  and  healing  which  is 
committed  to  them  as  priests  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  I 
wish  sometimes  they  would  read  with  wider  eyes  the  words 
of  their  priestly  commission,  '  Take  thou  authority  to  preach 
the  Word  of  God,  and  to  administer  the  Holy  Sacraments 
in  the  congregation ' — in  the  light  of  the  original  commis- 
sion of  Christ  to  the  Twelve — '  He  gave  them  authority 
.  .  .  and  sent  them  forth  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  the  king- 
dom .  .  .  and  they  departed  and  went  throughout  the 
villages  preaching  and  healing  everywhere.' 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  i8i 

For  we  are  being  asked,  and  rightly  asked,  as  the  result 
of  the  great  democratic  movement  of  our  day,  What  sign  is 
there  in  the  Village  Life  of  the  England  of  to-day  that  the 
priests  of  Christ's  Church  are  awake  to  all  the  meaning  of 
the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom?  What  have  they  done? 
What  are  they  doing  to  make  the  English  villager  feel  that 
Christ  is  the  true  King  of  the  village — that  the  Christ  prin- 
ciple must  be  supreme  in  the  realm  of  Village  Ethics,  of 
Village  Politics,  of  Village  Economics  ?  Personal  independ- 
ence, mutual  responsibility,  the  rights  of  liberty,  the  duties 
of  association — these  are  all  root  principles  of  the  Gospel  of 
the  kingdom ;  these  are  also  the  essential  qualities  of  the 
English  character  in  the  earliest  time  of  which  history  has 
anything  to  tell  us. 

Are  these  the  principles  of  English  village  government  to- 
day ?  Are  these  the  essential  qualities  of  the  English 
villager  as  we  know  him  to-day  ?  If  they  are  not,  who  is 
most  to  blame  for  that?  If  they  are,  why  then  all  this 
timidity,  this  want  of  faith  in  the  sturdiness  of  national 
character,  in  the  average  common-sense,  even,  of  the  com- 
munity, which  seems  to  me  to  have  characterized  too  many 
Churchmen  in  the  discussion,  both  in  and  out  of  Parliament, 
of  the  provisions  of  the  Local  Government  Bill  ? 

This  is  not  the  place,  of  course,  to  enter  into  any  partisan 
political  discussion  of  that  measure.  But  let  me  ask  you 
for  a  moment  to  consider  one  attitude  of  the  critics  of  that 
measure  which  hardly  suggests  any  point  of  party  politics. 

It  is  continually  said,  it  has  been  said  over  and  over 
again  to  me  in  country  parsonages  during  this  last  year  or 
so  :  'Do  not  imagine  that  I  am  opposed  to  village  councils 
in  themselves.  I  quite  recognise  that  village  government 
does  need  revision  ;  but  it  is  so  important  that  that  govern- 
ment should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  best  men,  and  what  I 
fear  is  that  the  councils  will  be  dominated,  not  by  the  best 
men,  but  by  the  -most  talkative — the  local  preachers,  the 
unionist  agitators,  the  noisy,  vulgar,  pot-house  politicians, 


i82  THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 

and  that,  in  fact,  the  best  men  will  retire  from  public  life  in 
disgust,  and  a  consequent  deterioration  of  national  character 
in  the  country  districts  set  in.' 

That  point  of  view  was  put  in  a  more  statesmanlike  way 
by  one  of  our  greatest  authorities  on  Local  Government,  an 
M.P.  for  a  Northern  county,  in  the  Times  a  few  weeks  ago. 
He  pointed  out  that  when  once  the  Bill  had  become  law, 
and  had  passed  out  of  the  region  of  acute  Parliamentary  dis- 
cussion, then  and  thereafter  nothing  in  the  whole  domain 
of  local  government  would  at  all  approach  in  importance,  as 
regards  the  daily  life  of  the  population,  to  the  question, 
How  are  these  local  councils  exercising  the  power  which 
Parliament  has  given  them  ?  Are  they  acting  not  only  with 
zeal  and  honesty,  but  with  wisdom  and  economy  in  execu- 
tion ?  In  short,  do  they  sufficiently  command  and  obtain 
the  services  of  those  men  in  each  parish  and  district  who 
are  by  their  ability,  character,  and  experience  most  com- 
petent to  judge  for  what  objects  their  own  and  their 
neighbour's  money  should  be  spent,  and  when  that  is 
settled  to  spend  it  with  the  utmost  economy  and  advantage? 

These,  no  doubt,  are  sensible  and  wise  questions,  but 
when  this  authority  goes  on  to  contend  that,  with  a  view 
of  securing  that  the  best  men  of  the  land-owning  and 
the  leisured  class  should  have  a  direct  inducement  to 
interest  themselves  in  local  administration,  they  should 
have  a  limited  but  assured  representation  on  the  local 
councils,  I  cannot  but  think  his  suggestion  unworthy  and 
unstatesmanlike. 

For,  surely,  if  such  men  are  '  the  best  men,'  the  true 
aristocracy  of  rural  hfe,  they  will  do  their  duty  without  such 
inducement ;  nay,  further,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  such 
men,  if  they  be  the  best  men,  whether  squires  or  parsons,  will  be 
little  short  of  abject  fools  if  they  do  not  lead  the  village  life 
of  the  future,  as  they  have  done  in  the  past. 

But  in  the  future  they  must  be  the  best  men,  and  they 
must  set  the  lead  in  all  that  makes  for  goodness  and  whole- 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  183 

someness  and  righteousness  in  village  life  ;  they  must  realize 
the  vast  importance  of  the  revivification  of  village  life  at 
which  this  Local  Government  Bill  at  least  aims. 

And  to  do  that  they  will  have  to  face,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
these  three  questions,  and  somehow  find  an  answer  to 
them  : 

I.  Can  we  do  anything,  by  the  help  of  the  provisions  of 
this  Act,  to  increase  the  general  pleasantness  and  attractive- 
ness of  village  life  in  England  ? 

II.  Can  we  do  anything  to  improve  the  economic  con- 
dition of  the  rural  labourer,  and  thereby  to  raise  permanently 
the  standard  of  comfort  and  joy  of  his  class  ? 

III.  Can  we  do  anything  to  quicken  citizenship,  the  sense 
of  public  responsibility  and  civic  duty  on  the  part  of  the 
English  villager  ? 

I.  As  to  the  attractiveness  of  village  life.  Village  life 
is  dull.  In  winter  time,  especially,  the  hearth  of  the 
village  ale-shop  is  too  often  the  only  social  centre  of  warmth 
and  light  and  colour — and  of  much  also,  I  fear,  which  is  only 
not  dull  because  it  is  wicked.  What  does  the  average 
villager  know  of  the  pleasures  of  books,  of  pictures,  of 
music,  of  art,  of  conversation,  of  all,  in  fact,  that  makes  the 
social  hfe  of  the  classes  above  him  glad  and  bright  ?  What 
does  he  know,  even,  of  rational,  intelligent  pleasure  in  the 
sights  and  sounds  of  the  country  hfe  about  him,  of  the 
spiritual  joy  of  earth? 

'  The  moving  glory  of  the  heavens,  their  pomp  and  pageantry, 
Flame  in  his  shadowed  face  ;  but  no  soul  comes  up  to  see. 
He  sees  no  angels  lean  to  him,  he  feels  no  spirit  hand, 
Melodious  beauty  sings  to  him — he  cannot  understand.' 

And  yet,  surely,  he  ought  to  know  something  of  the 
pleasure  which  God  intended  that  beautiful  things 
should  give  him.  He  ought  not  to  be  satisfied — at  any 
rate,  we  ought  not  to  be  satisfied  for  him  —  with  only 
labour  and  sleep  and  feeding.  When  the  work  is  done,  and 
the  sleep  is  over,  and  the  eating  is  finished,  shall  not  the 


1 84  THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 

man  himself  presently  wake  up,  and  find  his  spirit  afterward 
an  hungered,  and  know  that  it  lives  not  by  bread  alone  ? 

If  those,  who  claim  to  be  '  the  best  men '  in  every  village 
community  will  only  ask  such  questions  as  these.  What 
shall  we  do  to  make  village  life  a  little  less  colourless  and 
sad  ?  How  shall  we  break  its  monotony  and  commonplace 
with  some  stimulant  which  shall  not  be  vicious,  with  some 
pleasure  which  shall  not  be  merely  gross  and  sensual  ? — I 
think  they  ought  to  welcome  the  advent  of  this  Bill,  and 
cheerfully  undertake  to  see  those  of  its  provisions  which  deal 
with  the  Public  Libraries  Act,  the  Baths  and  Washhouses 
Act,  the  acquiring  of  public  recreation  grounds  and  walks 
and  the  building  of  parish  halls,  put  as  rapidly  as  may 
be  into  effect. 

II.  With  regard  to  the  economic  conditions  of  village 
life. 

I  will  not  enlarge  upon  this  point.  But  I  think  those 
provisions  of  the  Bill  which  speak  of  the  acquisition  of  land 
for  allotment  purposes,  and  which  deal  with  the  question  of 
setting  the  Small  Holdings  Act  of  1892  to  work,  ought  at 
least  to  suggest  to  our  village  '  best  men '  such  questions  as 
these : 

1.  Does  the  English  State  consider  that  production  of 
food  for  the  people  is  the  primary  charge  on  the  land,  and 
with  that  object  in  view  does  she  desire  to  retain  a  rural 
population  of  workers  on  the  soil  ? 

2.  Does  the  English  Church  consider  that  national 
character  is  of  far  greater  importance  than  national  wealth, 
and  from  that  point  of  view  is  she  prepared  to  welcome  the 
revival  of  an  English  yeoman  class  as  one  of  the  surest 
means  of  building  up  a  sturdy,  wholesome,  pious  national 
character  ? 

And  if  they  answer  those  two  questions  in  the  affirmative, 
this  question  must  immediately  follow  : 

3.  What  is  the  legitimate  economic  ideal  of  the  English 
peasant  of  the  future  to  be  ? 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  185 

Until  these  questions  are  settled  it  is  quite  useless  to  go 
further. 

What,  for  example,  is  the  use  of  all  these  various  and 
conflicting  schemes  of  the  technical  training  committees  of 
the  County  Councils  up  and  down  the  country,  if  we  have 
not  first  made  up  our  minds  as  to  the  special  object  of  all 
our  training  ?  The  peasant  proprietor  or  small  farmer  of  the 
future — if  we  decide  that  the  creation  of  such  a  class  is  to 
be  our  national  aim — will  need  a  very  different  training  to 
that  of  the  wage-earning  farm  hand  of  the  present :  for 
small  farming,  remember,  is  practically  a  lost  art  in  the 
greater  part  of  England. 

III.  Lastly,  how  can  we  quicken  the  citizenship  of  the 
English  village  ?  How  shall  we  give  the  spirit  of  local 
patriotism,  the  sense  of  civic  duty,  to  our  village  com- 
munities ? 

I  confess,  as  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England,  as 
a  country  parson  for  very  nearly  twenty  years,  I  am  some- 
what ashamed  to  put  this  question.  For  I  cannot  forget 
that  there  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land when  she  played  no  unimportant  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  popular  liberty.  It  was  in  the  Parish  Vestry  of  old 
times  that  the  two  great  principles  of  English  free  institu- 
tions— the  principle  of  mutual  responsibility  and  the 
principle  of  personal  representation — were  most  surely 
nourished  in  the  heart  of  the  English  citizen.  The  Parish 
was,  in  fact,  the  truest  school  of  Politics,  for  there  men  learnt, 
in  the  active  business  of  responsible  life,  those  primary 
lessons  in  public  justice  and  self-government,  in  public  dis- 
cussion and  social  duty,  which  go  to  form  the  character  of 
a  capable  citizen. 

I  would  to  God  that  even  at  this  last  hour  the  authori- 
tative leaders  in  our  Church  would  throw  aside  their  timid 
counsels,  their  grudging  policies,  their  half-hearted  aspira- 
tions, and  would  welcome  with  generous-hearted  trustful- 
ness this  demand  of  the  rural  population  of  England  to 


i86  THE  IMPERIAL  CHRIST 

take  part  in  the  nation's  work,  and  would  exhibit  some  at 
least  of  the  democratic  faith  of  earlier  days,  when  at  the 
wreck  of  Roman  civilization  the  Christian  Church  learnt  to 
build  up,  by  means  of  the  Teutonic  spirit  of  individual 
freedom  and  social  fidelity,  a  new  and  higher  order  of  civili- 
zation. I  would  to  God  that  Churchmen  of  to-day  could  be 
made  to  understand,  that  our  bishops  especially  could  be 
made  to  understand,  that  faith  in  democracy  does  mean, 
for  the  true  Christian,  faith  in  human  progress,  a  conviction 
little,  if  at  all,  short  of  religion  itself,  that  the  impulse  which 
is  hurrying  the  world  on  to  new  destinies  is  but  God's  ap- 
pointed means  of  leading  His  children  one  step  nearer  to 
the  solution  of  that  great  educational  problem  which  He 
has  set  them  of  making  His  kingdom  on  earth,  as  far  as 
possible,  a  likeness  of  that  which  is  in  heaven. 

I  would  to  God  that  every  country  parson  at  least  might 
learn  to  welcome  this  Bill  heartily,  for  sure  I  am  that  any 
Churchman  who  is  earnest  and  honest  in  his  desire  to  raise 
the  moral  condition  of  his  fellow-countrymen,  who  desires 
to  forward  any  true  measures  of  civic  well-being,  for  the 
administration  of  village  justice  and  prevention  of  wrong- 
doing, for  the  safety  and  security  of  person  and  property, 
for  the  well-ordering  of  poor  relief,  of  education  in  its 
widest  sense,  of  public  health  and  public  wealth  and  public 
wisdom ;  who  would  promote  the  growth  of  a  hearty 
sympathy  between  class  and  class,  a  right  appreciation  of 
the  mutual  obligations  and  relations  of  each,  and  a  cheer- 
ful and  happy  fulfilment  of  what  those  obligations  and 
relations  bring  to  each,  will  recognise  that  one  of  the 
surest  methods  lies  in  the  revival  of  the  good  old  English 
principle  of  self-government  in  the  village  '  moot '  or  council, 
and  its  foundation  on  a  sound  representative,  democratic, 
and  therefore  Christian,  basis. 

And  now  I  must  conclude.  It  has  been  my  object  to 
impress  upon  you  as  Churchmen  the  lesson  that,  if  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  this  country  is  to  fulfil  her  Master's 


AND  HIS  DEMOCRATIC  CREED  187 

mission,  she  must  set  herself  to  the  task,  both  in  the 
towns  and  in  the  villages,  of  solving  the  great  problem 
of  the  reconciliation  of  the  classes,  of  the  developing  and 
the  harmonizing  of  all  the  elements  which  go  to  make  a 
wholesome  national  character. 

Will  this  generation,  do  you  think,  see  the  problem 
solved? 

If  we  had  only  faith,  it  might  be  done  to-morrow.  We 
have  the  living  Christ  with  us,  and  all  that  we  need  is  not 
to  resist  His  Incarnation  in  and  through  us. 

What  an  achievement  it  would  be— the  crown  of  the 
century — one  more  upward  step  gained  in  the  path  of 
social  evolution  '  towards  the  perfect  man,  the  measure  of 
the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ !' 

DRIVING   THE    GOLDEN    SPIKE. 

I  have  read  that  when  the  great  Pacific  Railroad  was 
completed  across  America,  the  event  was  made  memorable 
by  driving  a  spike  of  gold  where  the  last  rail  joined  the 
track  which  had  approached  from  either  side  of  the  con- 
tinent. The  Evolution  of  Humanity  has  been  marked  at 
well-defined  points  of  progress  by  similar  golden  spikes. 
What  a  trophy  for  Christ  our  King,  if  the  close  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  of  His  era  coull  be  marked  by  the  solution 
of  this  problem  of  Labour  and  Capital !  Let  us  pray  for  it, 
let  us  work  for  it. 

'Strike  the  golden  spike,  master  workman,  on  the  way, 
Humanity  is  travelling  with  the  travelling  of  the  day. 
Strike  the  spike  of  gold  !  as  struck  primeval  man 
When  a  highway  Godward  to  travel  he  began  : 
When  with  celt  of  unhewn  stone  he  scored  the  birth  of  mind, 
And  the  first  milestone  was  set  that  left  the  brute  behind. 
Strike  I  strike  !  master  workman,  on  the  road  to  kinglier  men  ; 
Scarce  the  spike  is  driven  ere  thou  must  strike  again  : 
For  the  road  thou  buildest  is  a  road  without  an  end, 
Leading  where  with  human  effort  hope  and  reason  blend. 
Through  the  heart  of  elder  evil,  the  love  of  brutish  strife, 
Drive  the  spike  of  human  progress  and  a  loftier,  truer  life. 
Gird  the  world.    The  nations  blend.    Peace  and  love  proclaim  ; 
To  evolve  a  nobler  man  is  the  world's  predestined  aim.' 


COMMON-SENSE  IN  RELIGION. 

BY    THE 

VEN.  ARCHDEACON  WILSON. 

THE  subject  upon  which  I  have  to  address  you  is 
'Common-sense  in  Religion,'  its  need,  its  dangers, 
its  limitations.     My  main  difficulty  will  be  to  dis- 
pose of  certain  common-places    quickly  enough 
to  leave  time  to  get  to  the  heart  of  the  matter. 

Religion  in  one  person  calls  up  ceremony,  or  it  may  sug- 
gest asceticisms,  needing  some  restraining  element,  which 
we  call  common-sense,  to  check  exaggerations.  There  is, 
however,  a  wisdom  not  of  this  world,  which  has  a  deeper 
insight  into  the  secret  springs  of  religion,  and  not  only 
common-sense.  It  was  common-sense  which  sat  on  the 
bench  when  Festus  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  '  Paul,  thou  art 
beside  thyself.'  Common-sense,  if  it  is  candid,  will  admit 
that  the  underlying  forces  of  the  world  have  always  had  to 
be  joined  with  what  deemed  itself  common-sense.  Common- 
sense  will  distrust  itself  in  judging  of  ideals,  for  fear  that  it 
may  be  insensibility  to  the  highest  in  man. 

Religion  in  another  will  suggest  another  train  of  thought. 
There  is  a  large  educational,  parochial  work  to  be  done. 
Much  of  such  work  is  done  by  the  clergy,  because  more 
qualified  laymen  offer  no  help.  The  world  is  divided  into 
those  who  do  something,  and  those  who  look  on  and  say  it 
might  be  done  better.  I  would  respectfully  suggest  to  that 
sort  of  common-sense  that  so  to  look  on  is  very  mean.     We 


COMMON  SENSE  IN  RELIGION  189 

cannot  have  too  much  common-sense.  The  children  of  light 
may  well  be  as  wise  as  the  children  of  this  world. 

Again,  the  phrase  suggests  the  higher  aspect  of  our  work. 
Christendom  is  agreed  that  we  are  bound  to  bring  all  the 
world  to  the  knowledge  and  love  and  imitation  of  Christ ; 
and  yet  often  the  differences  and  rivalries  of  rehgious  bodies 
are  an  insult  to  common-sense.  Why  these  quarrels — this 
distrust  ?  Is  there  no  function  for  common-sense  in  rela- 
tion to  religious  bodies  ?  There  is  room  for  common-sense 
to  understand  better  our  relations  with  our  fellow-Christians. 
We  need  to  get  beyond  sects  and  parties,  and  be  rivals  only 
in  good  works. 

This  use  of  the  phrase  suggests  another :  these  differences 
are  all  caused  by  varying  opinions.  Is  there  no  room  in 
this  department  of  religion,  known  as  dogmatic  theology, 
for  common-sense  ?  What  has  common-sense  to  say  to  the 
various  theological  systems  that  have  arisen  in  the  Church 
or  have  departed  from  it  ?  Theologies  and  creeds  have  been 
so  elaborate,  and  so  fine  have  been  the  inferences,  and  com- 
pacted into  systems  with  such  wonderful  precision — schemes 
of  salvation,  theories  of  sacraments,  ecclesiasticism,  and  the 
like,  that  common-sense  stands  aghast,  and  asks,  Is  there  no 
place  for  me  here  ? 

What  shall  we  say  ?  There  is  need  enough,  but  we  must 
be  clear  what  it  is  there  is  need  of.  The  problems  of  human 
existence  can  never  cease  to  attract  men's  minds.  Say  what 
we  will  of  theology,  it  exercises  an  irresistible  attraction. 
There  the  soul  seeks  her  home;  there  man  rises  above 
materialism  ;  and  it  is  inevitable  that  men,  absorbed  in 
such  a  study,  should  state  their  own  inferences  and  system, 
and  try  to  impose  them  upon  others. 

What  is  the  function  of  common-sense  ?  It  is  to  recognise 
the  want  of  a  corrective  to  the  exaggerated  notion  of  com- 
pleteness that  belongs  to  every  system,  and  declare  that  we 
know  in  part. 

Common-sense  has  taught   us  that  theology  can   never 


i^  COMMON  SENSE  IN  RELIGION 

with  safety  get  far  from  the  original  intuitions.  No  inference 
that  does  not  rest  upon  the  Word  of  God,  and  find  its  echo 
in  the  hearts  of  men,  can  be  trusted  as  universal  truth.  But 
danger  Ues  here  also:  if  a  man  without  spiritual  mindedness, 
without  the  habit  of  prayer  and  meditation,  without  humility 
and  transparency  of  mind  that  comes  only  with  an  awakened 
conscience,  and  relying  upon  his  business  capacity,  dares  to 
pronounce  upon  the  aspirations  of  the  soul  for  God,  he  is 
sure  to  be  wrong. 

There  is  an  intuitive  power  in  all  pure  minds  in  relation 
to  God  in  those  regions  of  thought  which  are  called 
spiritual. 

Common-sense  is  right  in  distrusting  a  cold  and  unfeel- 
ing theology.  The  other  day  a  demagogue,  who  ou.ht  to 
know  better,  talked  to  working  men  of  the  rot  of  the  Church 
of  England  Prayer-book.  Was  that  common-sense  ?  These 
men  would  revise  the  Psalms,  Isaiah,  and  even  the  words  of 
Jesus  Christ  Himself.  This  is  common  dulness,  and  want 
of  any  common-sense. 

Common-sense  in  religion  suggests  to  some  ot  us,  if  we 
are  men,  an  inchoate  self-conscious  form  of  spiritual  force 
that  fills  the  universe.  There  seems  to  be  a  common  in- 
stinct pervading  all  men,  which  is  no  other  than  the  Spirit 
of  God  Himself  Below  our  ignorance,  and  selfishness, 
and  sins  of  every  kind,  buried  deep  below,  lies  the  Spirit  of 
our  Father.  It  is  hke  the  internal  heat  of  the  earth,  flaming 
out  in  the  volcano  here  and  there  in  fire  and  warm  springs, 
and  never  wanting  where  you  go  deep  enough. 

This  sanctified.  Divine  common-sense,  this  Spirit  of  God 
in  man,  is  not  scattered  among  and  separable  like  grains  of 
gold  in  sand,  it  is  diffused  everywhere  in  human  nature. 
He  who  thinks  of  man  in  this  light  can  never  for  a  moment 
think  he  can  live  to  himself. 

The  Divine  education  of  the  world  will  be  his  aim.  He 
will  be  very  humble,  and  he  will  think  that  he  is  a  mere  unit 
in  the  universe.     The  experience  and  the  mysteries  of  re- 


COMMON  SENSE  IN  RELIGION  191 

demption,  the  incarnation,  eternal  life,  duty  to  God,  will 
be  to  him  terms  of  mystery  with  an  unknown  element  in 
them.  He  will  show  a  reverence  to  God,  remembering  that 
He  is  in  heaven  and  we  on  earth.  So  his  words  will  be 
few.  Such  common-sense  as  this — so  deep,  so  strong — 
will  develop  into  the  wisdom  that  turns  to  scorn  all  extremes, 
and  will  dare  to  tell  the  truth,  though  hated  by  priests  and 
demagogues,  as  only  priests  and  demagogues  can  hate  the 
light  and  truth.  It  will  seek  the  praise  of  God,  and  love 
Him  and  his  fellow-man. 

Lastly,  it  is  this  universal  sensibility  in  man  to  the  highest 
ideals  that  makes  us  feel  that  Christ  is  in  very  truth  the  Son 
of  God.  We  claim  Him  as  the  perfect  embodiment  of  the 
Divine  Spirit  in  which  we  share.  We  bow  before  Him  as 
the  Son  of  God,  and  make  Him  a  leader  of  men  into  the 
presence  of  His  Father.  And  therefore  this  common-sense 
in  religion,  this  universal  sensibility  in  man  to  the  highest 
ideals,  so  far  as  we  share  in  it  the  aim  of  religion,  is  to  be 
Christlike,  to  help  men  to  be  good  and  do  good. 

In  purity  and  kindness,  duty  and  courtesy,  hes  the 
field  of  religion.  Common-sense  will  apply  religion,  there- 
fore, to  common  life,  to  trade,  to  all  social  actions.  It  re- 
pudiates that  religion  lies  between  man  and  God  as  his 
maker,  and  sees  it  is  only  half  a  truth ;  but  that  it  lies  be- 
tween man  and  man  also  as  his  brother.  Common-sense 
that  has  no  such  outcome  will  not  be  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ.  May  God  grant  that  we  may  have  more  of  this 
kind  of  sanctified  common-sense  !     Amen. 


SOCIAL  HOPE. 

BY    THE 

REV.  PREBENDARY  EYTON, 

RECTOR   OF    HOLY    TRINITY,    UPPER   CHELSEA. 

*  Many  there  be  that  say^  Who  will 
show  us  any  good  ? — Psalm  iv.  6. 

IT  is  always  a  comfort,  when  we  are  depressed  and  down- 
hearted at  the  outlook  around  us,  to  find  that  there 
have  been  men  in  other  days  who  have  had  to  pass 
through  our  own  experience.  There  was  in  David's 
day  a  good  deal  of  pessimism  flying  about  like  some  foul 
disease — a  good  deal  of  wholesale  and  thoughtless  depre- 
ciation both  of  things  generally  and  of  man  and  his  con- 
dition ;  there  were  men  then  who  deliberately  declared  life 
to  be  a  woe  and  a  curse,  not  worth  living,  who  criticised 
everything,  not  with  a  view  to  bettering  it,  but  with  a  view 
to  cheapening  it  and  making  it  out  to  be  worthless. 

There  are  such  men  in  every  age,  who  live  to  damp  and 
depress  our  spirits  :  a  walk  with  them  is  worse  than  the  fog  j 
their  look,  even,  is  depressing.  There  are  many  varieties  of 
such  men.  There  is  one  variety  which  is  peculiarly  irritat- 
ing, viz.  :  the  conceited  pessimist,  the  man  who  has  an 
inordinately  good  opinion  of  himself,  and  who  has  somehow 
awakened  to  the  fact  that  others  (owing  to  their  singular 
blindness  and  obtuseness)  do  not  share  it ;  he  is  a  pessimist, 
because  his  hand  is  against  every  man.  His  uneasy  con- 
viction that  he  is  not  valued  as  he  ought  to  be  makes  it 


SOCIAL  HOPE  193 

certain  to  him  that  the  times  are  out  of  joint.  Then  there 
is  the  pessimism  of  the  disillusionized  pleasure-seeker  and 
of  the  whimpering  sentimentalist ;  there  is  the  pessimism  of 
the  dogmatist,  who  finds  his  own  formulas  are  not  universally 
accepted — the  man  who  tells  you  that  though  there  is  much 
activity  in  religion,  yet  that  men  are  weak  in  doctrine.  Then 
there  is  the  bitter  cynicism  of  the  newspaper  satirist  or  of 
the  magazine  philosopher,  and  what  is  most  piteous  and 
pathetic  of  all,  the  silent  bewilderment  of  those  who  cannot 
make  it  all  out,  who  sit  bewildered  before  the  changed  and 
changing  order  of  the  world  with  no  hope  for  themselves  or 
for  others. 

Many  there  be  that  survey  the  religious  outlook,  the  social 
order,  or  the  individual  specimens  of  life  around  them,  and 
cry,  with  no  sign  of  expectation  in  their  voices,  '  Who  will 
show  us  any  good  ?' 

And  the  strength  of  this  utterance  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
does  not  represent  the  most  shallow  view ;  it  professes  to 
look  beneath  the  surface  and  to  see  through  things,  but  it 
does  not  see  far  enough.  The  most  superficial  view  of  all 
is  that  of  the  cheerful  optimist,  who  will  not  allow  that  there 
is  anything  amiss.  Things  have  gone  well  with  himself,  and 
he  is  not  disposed  to  allow  that  they  can  go  wrong  with 
anyone  else. 

The  ofiicial  ecclesiastical  view  about  the  Church  of 
England  generally  adopts  this  attitude.  No  one  would  ever 
gather,  from  the  rose-coloured  descriptions  of  parishes  and 
organizations  which  are  often  given,  what  are  the  gaps  and 
leaks,  what  are  the  failures  to  touch  and  interest  the  real 
life  of  a  parish. 

The  Church  of  England  and  her  services  have  a  great 
attraction  for  a  certain  class,  and  we  are  very  thankful  for 
the  often  excellent  work  she  does  among  them  ;  but  there 
are  whole  regions  of  life  in  London  which  she  only  touches 
through  the  occasional  accident  of  some  gifted  or  sympathetic 
personality,  not  because  those  regions  are  incapable  of  being 

13 


194 


SOCIAL  HOPE 


touched,  but  because  she  trusts  too  much  to  a  machinery 
that  has  not  been  adapted  to  their  wants  and  needs. 

'  Faith  in  machinery  is  our  besetting  sin,'  says  Matthew 
Arnold,  '  often  machinery  absurdly  disproportioned  to  the 
end,  but  always  machinery  as  if  it  had  a  value  in  and  for 
itself.'  But  the  optimist  who  speaks  in  Convocation,  or  at 
a  meeting  of  a  Diocesan  Conference,  about  the  grand  work 
which  is  being  done,  or  who  spouts  his  windy  declamation 
at  some  packed  meeting,  has  never  looked  at  facts  as  they 
are ;  has  only  looked  at  the  crowd  in  some  popular  church 
on  a  Sunday  evening,  and  omitted  to  walk  down  some 
popular  thoroughfare  during  church,  and  see  there  the  crowd 
which  neither  the  Church  nor  any  other  religious  body 
touches. 

No  man  then,  either  about  religious  or  social  life,  can 
really  look  at  things  as  they  are  and  be  contented  with  the 
sort  of  cheerful  optimism  which  characterizes  an  Arch- 
deacon's charge  or  a  diocesan  report.  He  goes  deeper ; 
he  begins  to  look  at  things  as  they  are,  and  then  comes  the 
day  of  danger  ;  he  is  disillusionized,  and  he  runs  to  the  other 
extreme ;  because  there  are  dull  spots,  there  is  no  sun  ; 
because  there  are  sick  people,  there  is  no  health ;  because 
there  are  failures,  there  is  no  success.  At  this  stage  the 
man  crawls  like  a  rabbit  into  his  hole,  and  seated  there,  he 
says,  '  I  have  got  through  the  surface  and  its  simple  pre- 
sumptions ;  I  have  seen  through  things  ;  Aere  there  is  no 
sunlight,  no  beauty,  all  is  dark  and  dreary  and  miserable ; 
religion  is  played  out.'  He  is  below  the  surface ;  he  has 
passed  out  of  the  stage  of  dreams  and  charms ;  he  has  seen 
many  things,  but  has  he  got  far  enough  yet  ?  There  is  a 
further  stage  if  a  man  gets  deep  enough,  where  he  will  learn 
to  hope  again — the  stage  where  he  sees  not  what  things 
look  like,  but  where  he  sees  what  life  is  for — that  the  object 
of  life  is  not  success  nor  failure,  but  to  live  for  God  and  to 
live  for  man.  Then,  whether  the  sun  shines  or  not ;  whether 
things  are  dark  and  dreary  in  religion,  or  whether  he  feels 


SOCIAL  HOPE 


195 


that  its  real  power  is  telling ;  whether  society  is  advancing 
or  deteriorating,  he  is  still  able  to  hope,  because  he  is  trying 
to  live  for  God  and  for  man. 

And  then,  further,  the  same  voice,  which  taught  him 
that,  speaks  to  him  about  others  also.  He  sees  that  un- 
toward and  crooked  things  mean  education  in  character; 
that  the  experiences  of  life  do  not  end  in  themselves,  but 
that  they  have  power  to  make  men  into  something  else ; 
and  so  he  passes  into  the  centre — the  middle  of  things. 
And  then  the  lost  things  come  back  again  ;  the  failures  that 
seemed  to  destroy  everything  come  back  as  instruments  of 
higher  work — as  the  adjustment  which  is  a  necessity  if  he 
is  ever  to  fill  his  God-appointed  place.  And  thus  hope 
begins  to  dawn. 

'  Experience,'  says  St.  Paul,  'worketh  hope.'  How  strange 
the  saying  sounds  !  And  yet  it  does.  The  man  who  has 
gone  through  this  experience  has  gained  a  deeper  knowledge 
of  God.  He  understands  the  drift  of  Christ's  life  better ; 
he  sees  that,  however  hopeless  things  look,  there  is  still 
Christ ;  there  is  still  the  Christ-appeal  waiting,  and  scheming, 
and  contriving  to  get  itself  heard  by  every  man.  He  sees 
a  living  force  within  things — not  a  dead  Christ,  who  has  left 
a  will  which  a  cold  and  dogmatic  priesthood,  an  autocratic 
ministry,  are  to  interpret  in  set  forms,  and  chilling  sentences, 
and  dignified  warnings,  but  a  living  Christ,  Whose  heart  is 
palpitating  behind  every  unselfish  action,  and  Who  is  living 
in  every  brave  and  noble  endurance,  and  bearing  Himself 
up  under  every  failure,  and  spreading  His  Spirit  wherever 
He  can  find  a  heart  that  will  convey  Him  on  and  show 
Him  to  others. 

He  has  made,  then,  the  great  discovery,  not  that  every- 
thing is  going  on  splendidly  because  religious  machinery  is 
so  perfect,  but  the  discovery  that  there  is  Christ  in  every 
unselfish  movement  of  the  day ;  that  He  is  leading  man  to 
find  Himself  within  man  ;  that  He  is  teaching  men  the 
deepest  truths,  that  the  Communion  of  Saints  means  that 

13 — 2 


196  SOCIAL  HOPE 

every  life  lives  by  every  other  life  ;  that  the  Communion  of 
His  Sacred  Body  and  Blood  is  not  a  reward  for  virtue  or 
even  only  a  means  of  individual  growth,  but  a  social  symbol 
of  man's  communion  with  man,  and  that  the  unworthy  com- 
municant is  he  who  does  not  find  the  Christ  in  others,  Who 
is  the  Life  of  his  life. 

'The  secret  of  vision,'  says  a  great  writer,  'is  undying 
hope.'  What  we  can  hope  for  really,  even  two  or  three  of 
us,  of  that  we  shall  soon  see  the  germs ;  what  we  do  not 
hope  for  may  be  under  our  very  feet,  and  we  are  blind,  we 
cannot  see  it.  Let  us  see  what  we  can  hope  for,  and  then 
we  shall  get  to  what  can  we  see — we  who  are  yearning  and 
longing  to  see  it.  We  hope  for  a  purer  Church,  a  more 
Christ-like  Church,  than  the  world  has  ever  seen — a  Church 

1  whose  creeds  have  become  inspirations.  We  hope  for  the 
I  day  when  men  will  make  '  God  their  religion,  instead  of 
I  making  religion  their  God.'  We  hope  for  an  ideal  reunion, 
when  men  who  are  now  with  us  in  their  wish  to  be  with  us, 
and  in  their  wish  to  preserve  the  Christ-spirit  of  service, 
will  be  so  one  with  us  that  we  and  they  shall  no  longer  talk 
of  reunion,  or  get  up  misleading  discussions  to  promote  it, 
but  shall  find  ourselves  so  enwrapped  and  so  possessed  by 
the  Christ-spirit  that  we  shall  find  division  intolerable. 
Then,  at  last,  we  shall  find  a  way  of  oneness  with  every 
heart  that  has  translated  into  life  the  Christ  command,  '  As 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you,  even  so  do  unto 
them  ;'  we  shall  recognise  that  as  the  really  encircling  bond ; 
we  do  so  now  in  our  deepest  moments,  but  the  conviction 
that  it  is  so  will  grow  and  grow  till  God  shows  us  the  way 
to  openly  acknowledge  it.  We  hope  for  the  day  when  man 
will  think  of  the  service  of  man  as  the  deepest  religious 
privilege,  when  that  ideal  feet-washing  shall  somehow  become 
practically  expressed  in  all  our  lives  ;  when  men  shall  seek 
not  for  patronage,  but  for  opportunities  of  service ;  when 
the  Church  shall  be  no  more  seen  haggling  for  its  rights, 
but  anxious  to  let  everyone  see  how  every  detail  in  the 


SOCIAL  HOPE  197 

life  of  the  community  is  dear  to  it,  how  it  believes  in  trust 
and  generous  dealing,  how  it  has  caught  the  Christ-spirit  of 
*  losing  its  life  to  save  it.'  We  hope,  too,  to  see  the  ideal 
of  Christ's  teaching  in  the  State  as  in  the  Church.  We 
hope  to  see  men  believing  that  He  meant  what  He  said ; 
that  the  day  of  non-natural  interpretation  is  over ;  that  He 
intended  to  create  a  vast  social  change ;  to  make  the  em- 
ployer regard  his  workman  as  his  brother ;  to  make  every 
man  regard  injury  to  woman  as  injury  to  his  own  sister ;  to 
lead  men  to  find  Himself  not  in  some  mystical  dream,  but 
in  the  often  unselfconscious  wants  of  those  around  them. 

We  hope,  and  we  have  grounds  for  hope ;  we  are  begin- 
ning to  see  the  dawn  of  what  fifty  years  ago  would  have 
been  impossible.  We  have  found  that  even  companies  can 
think  of  the  bodies  and  souls  of  those  whom  they  employ, 
as  well  as  of  their  own  dividends ;  we  have  found  that  it 
has  at  last  dawned  on  all,  in  a  measure,  that  man  is  more 
than  money,  character  than  possessions,  purity  and  decency 
than  high  rents.  To  the  young  we  appeal,  to  those  who 
will  carry  these  beginnings  on  by  God's  help  to  brighter 
conclusions  than  we  shall  live  to  see.  To  them  we  would 
say,  '  Be  true  to  facts  as  they  are,  study  them,  acknowledge 
them ;  be  afraid  of  the  cant  and  dishonesty  that  bolsters  up 
anything  merely  because  it  is  our  own  ;  but  at  the  same 
time  learn  to  recognise  beneath  the  most  untoward  and  un- 
promising things  the  workings  of  Christ ;  see  them  in  what 
seems  to  be  the  unavailing  protest ;  see  them  in  the  growing 
shame  of  acknowledged  selfishness ;  see  them  in  the  more 
righteous  public  utterances  of  our  leading  statesmen ;  see 
them  in  the  spirit  that  sets  on  foot  everywhere  new  means 
for  benefiting  the  social  life  of  people — in  clubs,  in  poly- 
technics, and  in  all  agencies  of  the  kind.  Above  all,  believe 
in  the  power  of  human  aspiration  when  touched  by  the 
living  Christ.  Hope  everything  from  man  because  of  the 
Divine  possibilities  within  him.  And  when  he  disappoints 
you,  and  when  you  find  no  appreciation  and  no  response, 


198  SOCIAL  HOPE 

still  remember  your  place  is  among  your  brethren,  however 
far  they  may  stray.'  We  have  a  sure  ally  in  everyone  through 
the  Divinely-planted  instinct  of  human  aspiration.  Above 
all,  we  have  the  certainty  that  Christ  is  at  work  with  others 
as  with  ourselves ;  that  God  has  a  voice  through  Christ  for 
every  one  of  His  children,  and  that  in  a  thousand  ways  of 
which  we  never  know,  if  we  catch  the  real  social  spirit  of 
Christ,  even  we  may  help  to  translate  that  voice  to  them. 


THE   SOCIAL   OUTLOOK. 

BY   THE 

REV.  PROFESSOR  H.  C.  SHUTTLEWORTH, 

RECTOR   OF   ST.    NICHOLAS,    COLE   ABBEY. 

'  /  a77i  not  come  to  destroy,  hit  to 
fulfil'— ^T.  Matthew  v.  17. 

OUR  LORD  spoke  these  words,  standing  between 
two  worlds;  the  old  world  which  was  passing,  the 
new  world  which  began  with  Him.  He  is  ex- 
pounding the  old  law  in  its  relation  to  the  new 
order,  and  in  these  words  He  gives  us  the  principle  of 
true  progress.  The  world  has  advanced  and  grown,  and 
must  always  advance  and  grow,  not  by  destruction,  but  by 
fulfilment.  Old  institutions,  old  laws,  old  ideas,  cease  to  be 
effective,  and  pass  away  or  are  driven  out ;  but  out  of  them, 
and  from  what  they  have  accomplished,  is  born  the  new 
world.     The  future  is  the  child  of  the  past 

And  we,  to-day,  as  this  eventful  century  draws  near  its 
close,  stand  at  the  meeting-point  of  an  old  world  and  a  new. 
Dean  Stanley,  in  his  funeral  sermon  on  Lord  Palmerston, 
told  his  hearers  that  with  the  death  of  that  Minister  a  new 
order  had  begun ;  that  they  stood  '  on  the  watershed  of  the 
dividing  streams.'  That  saying  would  be  far  more  true  of 
our  own  day ;  not  only  because  we  recognise  the  close  of 
an  epoch  in  the  retirement  of  the  last,  greatest,  and  best  of 
the  long  line  of  our  commercial  statesmen.  Everywhere,  old 
ways  of  thinking  are  being  superseded,  old  institutions  are 


200  THE  SOCIAL  OUTLOOK 

sharply  criticised,  old  moralities  questioned.  New  ideas  are 
in  the  air,  our  politics  and  our  social  order  are  being  trans- 
formed, our  national  life  seems  to  be  taking  another  direc- 
tion. Naturally,  there  are  some  among  us  who  look  upon 
the  change  with  suspicion  and  dislike,  and  fear  for  its  not 
distant  consequences.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Old 
institutions  are  venerable  and  picturesque ;  they  have  done 
good  work  in  their  day,  and  perhaps  may  yet  do  more.  Old 
customs  and  ideas  are  tenderly  associated  with  our  own  best 
memories,  with  our  recollections  of  former  years,  and  of  the 
I  dear  dead  who  made  those  years  bright  for  us.  And  thus 
,  the  fading  out  of  the  old  world  seems  like  the  death  of  a 
I  dear  friend,  or  the  pulling  down  of  the  old  house  where  we 
spent  our  childhood.  Christ  looked  with  kindly  tolerance 
upon  those  who  thus  clung  to  the  old  order.  '  No  man 
having  drunk  old  wine  straightway  desireth  new  ;  for  Jie  saith, 
the  old  is  better.'  Yet  from  among  them  there  spring  prophets 
of  mourning,  and  lamentation,  and  woe,  whose  burden  is  one 
of  despair  and  gloom,  with  no  note  of  hope  or  gleam  of 
faith.  About  a  year  ago  we  were  all  reading  a  '  Forecast ' 
of  this  depressing  sort,  by  an  able  and  cultivated  pessimist, 
who  has  no  enthusiasm  for  the  new  ideas,  and  who  looks 
forward  to  the  coming  in  of  the  newer  order  with  calm,  sad 
resignation.  A  brighter  and,  we  may  believe,  a  truer  view 
of  '  social  evolution  '  has  just  come  into  our  hands,  which 
might  almost  be  described  as  an  exposition  in  terms  ot 
history  of  the  text  I  have  chosen  for  today.  The  laudator 
te??iporis  acti  must  be  tenderly  dealt  with,  the  pessimist 
must  be  answered,  by  those  of  us  who  believe  that  the 
twentieth  century  will  be  a  day  of  fuller  life  and  richer  hope 
than  the  ages  which  have  gone  before  it. 

It  is  equally  natural  that,  on  the  other  hand,  an  epoch  of 
transition  like  the  present  should  produce  abnormal  and 
irregular  growths,  strange  types,  which  are  neither  of  the 
old  nor  of  the  new.  There  are  men  who  think  that  the  best 
jneans  of  heralding  the  new  dawn  is  to  fling  a  bomb  into  a 


THE  SOCIAL  OUTLOOK  201 

crowd  of  harmless  people.  There  are  those  who  believe, 
w^ith  Bakunin,  that  the  only  way  to  regenerate  society  is  to 
wipe  it  out  by  utter  destruction,  in  the  belief  that  a  new  and 
better  order  will  surely  be  evolved  out  of  chaos.  It  neve^ 
has  been  so,  and  it  never  can  be  so.  Such  methods  car 
only  delay  the  advance  of  progress.  You  can,  indeed,  casj 
out  devils  by  Beelzebub.  But  you  cannot  keep  them  outf 
only  angels  can  do  that.  '  His  kingdom  shall  not  stand': 
for  by  fulfilment,  not  by  destruction,  the  old  passes  into  the 
new. 

As  we  endeavour  to  make  our  social  outlook  to-day,  it 
seems  as  though  there  is  but  one  other  period  in  the  history 
of  the  modern  world  which  compares  with  our  own  time  ; 
one  other  such  a  breaking  up  of  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep,  such  submerging  of  ancient  landmarks  in  the  flood  of 
new  ways  and  new  thoughts.  That  former  crisis  came  when 
the  Roman  Empire  went  down  before  the  irresistible  onrush 
of  the  northern  tribes.  In  that  debacle,  it  seemed  certain 
that  all  which  the  older  world  had  won,  of  knowledge,  of 
civilization,  of  law,  would  be  overwhelmed  and  swept  to 
fragments  by  the  flood  of  conquering  barbarism.  It  was 
saved  by  one  institution  :  the  Christian  Church.  Such  is 
the  common  consent  of  all  historians,  from  Gibbon  to  Guizot, 
from  Sismondi  to  Sir  James  Stephen.  Out  of  that  hideous 
confusion  of  blood  and  destruction,  the  Church  created 
modern  Europe.  Against  physical  force  she  opposed  spiri- 
tual ideals ;  she  made  it  possible  for  the  old  order  to  grow 
into  the  new.  The  Church  was  the  mediator,  her  bishops 
true  po7itifices — builders  of  bridges  across  the  gulf  which 
threatened  to  swallow  up  '  the  old  perfections  of  the  world.' 

And  now  modern  Europe  is  itself  passing  away,  to  give 
place  to  a  new  age  and  a  new  order  of  things.  Not  now,  as 
of  old,  is  it  a  horde  of  barbarians  which  sweeps  down  upon 
fair  lands  and  beautiful  cities,  to  be  won  and  held  by  force 
of  arms.  But  men  and  women  are  now  claiming  their  part 
in   the  good  things  of  life;    they  are  marching  upon  the 


202  THE  SOCIAL  OUTLOOK 

privileges  and  the  possessions  which  the  few  have  hitherto 
held,  and  demanding  their  rightful  share.  Revolutions,  we 
know,  are  not  made  with  rose-water ;  and  when  '  the  brute 
despair  of  trampled  centuries '  finds  a  voice  and  gropes  for 
its  rights,  there  is  likely  enough  to  be  a  good  deal  of  wild 
talk  uttered,  and,  it  may  be,  wild  work  done."^ 

Is  there  a  place  for  the  saviour  of  the  old  world  among 
the  forces  which  are  re-making  society  to-day  ?  Once,  her 
bitterest  foes  being  her  judges,  the  Church  saved  civilization 
and  humanized  the  conquerors.  Alone  among  the  institu- 
tions of  Western  Europe  which  passed  through  that  former 
catastrophe,  the  Church  is  still  here.  Can  she  do  for  us 
to-day  what  she  did  for  the  world  long  ago  ? 

What  are  the  invading  forces,  and  what  is  their  battle-cry  ? 

I.  The  first  is  the  great  army  of  Labour.  All  over  the 
civilized  world,  the  workman  has  arrived.  He  is  possessing 
himself  of  political  power,  and  he  is  resolved  to  use  it  to  the 
full.  He  has  been  marvellously  patient  through  centuries  of 
oppression  and  exploitation  ;  and  his  patience  is  coming  to 
an  end.  Patience  is  not  always  a  virtue,  and  contentment 
is  sometimes  a  crime  ;  and  however  we  may  wonder  at  and 
admire  the  astonishing  patience  of  the  poor,  we  must  admit 
that  the  atmosphere  of  content  does  not  breed  reformers. 
The  labourer  is  claiming  his  right.  He  has  not  received, 
and  he  does  not  receive,  he  tells  us,  the  due  reward  of  his 
toil.  He  demands  a  share — a  rightful  share — of  the  wealth 
he  helps  so  largely  to  create.  He  wants  a  more  decent 
house  to  live  in,  a  better  wage,  less  exhausting  hours  of 
work,  more  leisure,  more  certainty  of  employment.  He  has 
surely  a  just  ground  of  complaint  against  a  society  which 
dooms  him  to  face  depression  and  want  every  few  years,  and 
condemns  him  in  old  age  to  the  workhouse.  And  his  claim 
is  made  in  the  sacred  name  of  Justice.  He  marches  under 
the  banner  of  his  Right. 

No  Christian  can  treat  lightly  such  a  plea.     It  is  signifi- 

'^  W.  T.  Stead,  'Vatican  Letters,'  pp.  28,  29. 


THE  SOCIAL  OUTLOOK  203 

cant  that  the  workman's  case  is  founded  upon  a  moral,  not  a 
utilitarian,  basis.  He  does  not  ask  whether  it  would  pay  to 
grant  his  demands ;  he  only  asks  whether  it  is  not  right  and 
just  that  he  should  enjoy  the  fruit  of  his  labour. 

My  friends,  we  are  bound  to  face  this  fact,  that  while 
labour  thus  appeals  to  morals  we  are  often  apt  to  decline 
the  appeal,  and  merely  to  ask  whether  changes  will  pay, 
especially  whether  they  will  pay  ourselves.  Is  that  worthy 
of  those  who  profess  to  take  Christ  for  their  Master  ?  We 
may,  if  we  please,  proceed  to  make  inquiry  into  the  justice 
of  labour's  claim.  But  unless  we  are  prepared  to  accept 
the  appeal  to  Right  and  Justice,  and  at  the  least  to  examine 
it,  we  are  deliberately  taking  a  lower  standard  than  the 
workman.  The  Church  is  pledged  by  the  very  charter  of 
her  existence  to  accept  his  principles,  and  to  proceed  to 
inquire  whether  indeed  they  justify  his  conclusion.  If  what 
he  asks  is  indeed  just  and  right,  it  must  be  granted,  cost 
what  it  may. 

It  may  reasonably  be  feared  that  at  a  time  when  so  much 
stress  is  laid  upon  the  bettering  of  material  conditions,  there 
may  be  a  danger  of  forgetting  spiritual  ideals.  Man  cannot 
live  without  bread,  yet  he  does  not  live  by  bread  alone.  It 
is  right  that  every  man  should  have  equal  opportunity ;  yet 
the  life  is  more  than  meat.  Possibly  it  may  be  the  work  of  the 
Christian  Church,  in  this  time  of  transition,  to  preserve  and 
maintain  the  spiritual  basis  upon  which  all  material  improve- 
ment must  be  founded,  if,  indeed,  it  is  to  endure.  In  this 
she  can  command  the  co-operation  of  the  English  labour 
leaders.  It  is  noteworthy  that  nearly  all  of  them  are  re- 
ligious men,  earnest  Christians,  who  place  things  spiritual  in 
the  forefront  of  their  work.  'The  labour  movement,'  said 
one  of  these  men  in  my  hearing,  'is  a  religious  movement 
above  all.' 

Can  the  Church  do  other  than  help,  and  bless,  and 
guide  ?  Her  Founder  was  a  workman.  His  Apostles  were 
abourers.     Her  glory  is  that  she  has  ever  been  the  Church 


204  THE  SOCIAL  OUTLOOK 

of  the  poor.  Time  was,  in  our  own  England,  when  it  was 
to  the  Church  that  the  workman  looked  for  consolation  and 
protection  and  help.  How  is  it  that  to-day  the  workman 
suspects  the  Church  of  his  nation,  and  too  often  regards  her 
as  the  strongest  and  the  bitterest  of  the  foes  arrayed  against 
him  ?  O  you  of  the  City  of  London  !  the  centre  and  heart 
of  English  commerce  and  English  social  life  !  how  far  is 
this  your  fault  ?  How  far  is  it  due  to  our  habitual  appeal 
to  utilitarianism  rather  than  to  justice,  to  our  preference  of 
the  trader's  question,  '  Will  it  pay  ?'  to  the  workman's  ques- 
tion, '  Is  it  right?' 

Upon  the  answer  depends  the  decision  of  our  former 
question,  Whether  or  no  the  Church  can  do  to-day  what  she 
did  for  the  older  world  ? 

2.  There  is  another  invading  army,  whose  onward  march 
is  perhaps  more  significant,  more  pregnant  with  consequences 
to  the  future  of  the  race,  than  even  the  approach  of  the 
hosts  of  Labour.  What  is  roughly  called  the  Woman  ques- 
tion is  by  far  the  most  momentous  of  our  time.  In  the 
English-speaking  countries,  at  least,  the  women  are  claiming 
a  new  position,  and  are  beginning  to  advance  towards  its 
attainment.  Woman,  like  Labour,  is  demanding  what  she 
regards  as  a  right,  a  long-delayed  measure  of  justice.  She, 
too,  asks  for  a  career,  for  liberty  to  live  her  own  life,  to  do 
her  own  work,  to  take  her  share  in  the  government  and 
local  administration  of  her  country.  The  first  positions  are 
already  carried ;  the  principle  is  practically  admitted  as  just. 
Inevitably,  here  also,  the  time  of  transition  has  brought 
forth  strange  and  unnatural  products.  The  '  Wild  Women  ' 
of  a  certain  gifted,  if  somewhat  unbalanced,  woman-writer 
are  not  altogether  creatures  of  the  imagination.  The  mistake 
is  to  look  upon  Dodo  and  her  kind  as  true  representatives 
of  the  coming  woman.  They  are,  in  truth,  representatives 
of  the  middle  period,  between  the  old  and  the  new  j  they 
are  types,  and  accurate  types,  of  life  in  a  time  of  unrest  and 
change  such  as  this. 


THE  SOCIAL  OUTLOOK  205 

What  has  the  Christian  Church  to  say  to  the  claims,  the 
pleas,  the  demands  of  Woman  for  her  rightful  place  in  the 
new  world  ?  There  are  certain  sanctities  which  the  Church 
must  guard  and  preserve,  in  the  highest  and  most  necessary 
interests  of  the  race.  There  are  principles  which  she  has 
received  from  her  Lord  as  the  most  holy  of  trusts.  There 
are  fundamental  moralities  with  which  the  Church  can  brook 
no  paltering.  She  dare  not  look  lightly  upon  the  loosening 
of  the  marriage  bond.  She  cannot  forget  that  no  nation 
has  ever  lasted  long  which  has  admitted  any  possible  basis 
of  society  other  than  that  of  nature — the  family.  But  out- 
side the  sanctuary  of  these  most  holy  things,  the  Church 
can  have  nothing  but  encouragement  and  help  for  those 
who  claim  their  due,  in  the  name  of  Justice.  The  Church, 
which  enthrones  the  Madonna,  and  daily  sings  her  hymn  ; 
the  Church,  which  emancipated  Woman  from  the  degrading 
chattel-servitude  of  an  older  time ;  the  Church,  which  first 
gave  woman  a  career,  in  her  religious  houses  and  her  philan- 
thropic institutions ;  the  Church,  which  has  ever  been  the 
protector  and  the  helper  of  the  oppressed ;  the  Church  can- 
not choose  but  bid  Godspeed  to  woman's  new  crusade, 
which  does  but  carry  to  a  conclusion  the  onward  movement 
that  the  Church  herself  began.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  'the 
Christ  that  is  to  be '  comes,  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil. 

It  is  He  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne  who  ever  maketh 
all  things  new.  If  the  foundations  of  things  are  shaken, 
who  is  it  that  shaketh  the  heavens  and  the  earth  ?  Times 
of  transition  are  times  of  confusion  and  perplexity,  but  they 
are  times  of  hope  and  faith.  For  in  the  passing  of  the  old 
world,  and  the  incoming  of  the  new,  we  find  a  new  revela- 
tion of  the  Christ  who  works  in  history,  and  makes  Himself 
more  plain  before  the  face  of  man,  as  the  ages  sweep  onward 
to  their  destined  goal. 

When  the  church  of  the  Eternal  Wisdom  at  Constant! 
nople  was  captured  by  the  hosts  of  Islam,  and  turned  into 
a  mosque,  the  great  mosaic  figure  of  the  Christ  enthroned 


// 


2o6  THE  SOCIAL  OUTLOOK 

in  glory  over  the  east  was  defaced  and  blotted  out  with 
paint.  But  as  the  years  went  by,  the  imperishable  mosaic 
wore  its  way,  so  to  say,  through  the  fading  veil,  and  the 
calm  Face  once  more  looked  down  upon  those  who  bowed 
beneath.  Some  day,  of  a  surety,  that  veil  shall  be  removed, 
and  the  throned  and  glorified  figure  of  the  Christ  shall  glow 
in  more  than  its  ancient  splendour  above  adoring  Christian 
crowds. 

Even  so  has  the  face  and  figure  of  Jesus,  the  Son  of 
God,  been  dimmed  by  the  folly  and  selfishness  of  His  own 
disciples,  by  the  greed  and  cruelty  and  sloth  of  men.  Still 
He  looks  upon  us  with  inspiring  and  humbling  gaze ;  still 
His  hand  is  uplifted  in  perpetual  blessing.  More  and  more 
clearly,  as  His  creation  moves  towards  that  far-off  Divine 
event,  we  seem  to  see  Him ;  and  when  the  smoke  and  dust 
of  change  has  cleared  away,  lo,  the  Divine  face  is  yet  more 
plain  to  our  eyes.  For  the  evolution  of  man  and  of  the 
world  is  but  the  clearer  and  completer  manifestation  of  the 
Christ. 


THE    END. 


Elliot  Stock,  62,  Paternoster  Row,  London,  B.C. 


'*,y"«ton  Theological  Se 


m'/l^fH.  Libraries 


1    1012  01210  5930 


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